New Colombian plant discovered by Kew scientist honors Colombian president

A new plant species from Northeastern Colombia has been named Espeletia praesidentis, in honour of efforts made by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to build peace in his country after over five decades of conflict. The plant, from the genus Espeletia in the sunflower family, was discovered by a Colombian botanist from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and named in a study published in the open access journal PhytoKeys last week.