Uvariopsis Dicaprio: Meet the New Tree From Cameroon Named After Leonardo DiCaprio

An international team of researchers has recently discovered a new and unique tropical evergreen tree from the location of Ebo Forest in Cameroon of Central Africa. The tree is new to science in 2022 and it is grown only in the dense forest of Cameroon, known for its incredible biodiversity.

The new tree from Ebo forest has been named scientifically as Uvariopsis Dicaprio consisting of species names as first name and last name after the actor. The tree found has been named by the scientists after American famous actor and conservationist, Leonardo Dicaprio.

The analysis of photographs and specimens of the new plant's existence was done by Dr. Martin Cheek at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew along with his colleagues and researchers at the National Herbarium of Cameroon and the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon.

According to reports the name 'Uvariopsis Dicaprio' which comes from the name of Leonardo Dicaprio has been selected as he has a wide influence on social media platforms on paying attention to various threats associated with a number of rare Ebo species from the logging acceptance that was announced in 2021

The Uvariopsis Dicaprio tree has been evaluated as 'critically endangered' because of the reason that the habitats of the species remain unsafe and most of the time had to struggle while facing threats from logging, mining and conversion to the plantation.

The rare Uvariopsis Dicaprio tree is endemic to the Ebo forest and till now it is only recognized from the lower submontane forest which contains an altitude of 850 m. The area of occupation of the tree is estimated by experts as four square kilometers.