Photo: WENN.com
Lady Gaga has been bestowed with the ultimate celebrity honour - she has had a plant named after her.
Scientists at Duke University in the US have named a newly discovered fern after the 'Bad Romance' star, claiming that the plant shared the same sense of celebrating individuality. The new genus of fern has 19 different variations - a number similar to the amount of costume changes on her current world tour.
"We wanted to name this genus for Lady Gaga because of her fervent defense of equality and individual expression," says Kathleen Pryer, a biology professor at Duke University. "And as we started to consider it, the ferns themselves gave us more reasons why it was a good choice."
Clearly, Lady Gaga is not a hay fever sufferer
Pryer also revealed that she was a Lady Gaga fan - especially of her second album, Born This Way - and a news release from the university recalled rumours from early in Gaga's career that she was a hermaphrodite. The fern "has somewhat fluid definitions of gender," says the science department in the announcement of the discovery - made in Arizona, Texas, Mexico and Central and South America.
"We think that her second album, Born this Way, is enormously empowering,” adds Dr. Pryer, “especially for disenfranchised people and communities like LGBT, ethnic groups, women — and scientists who study odd ferns!”
The new variety of species have been named Gaga germanotta and Gaga monstraparva, among others.
Photos: Gaga goes for flowers, fur and burqa at Fashion Week show
