Newly Discovered Plant Species Makes Green Day Greener

In 1989, three Californian lads started a band and named it Green Day to pay tribute to a favourite plant of teenagers everywhere. The world of botany has finally returned the favour, as a Swiss plant biologist has named a new species of tropical plant after the pop-punk band.

The plant, Macrocarpaea dies-viridis (or the "Green Day moon-gentian"), was discovered by Dr. Jason R. Grant and his students during a trip to Ecuador in February 2006. The team, said Grant in a message to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), spent the trip "listening to Green Day music while driving, and in the evenings." Grant has discovered a number of plants within the Macrocarpaea genus, including one dubbed the "Apparating moon-gentian" after a spell in the Harry Potter books.

The news should please Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt, who've entered a partnership with the NRDC to promote environmental conservation.

Green Day contributed a cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" to an Amnesty International benefit compilation titled Instant Karma: The Campaign To Save Darfur, which is due on June 12. They also plan to shoot a video for the track.