--- title: New Flower Named After Matt Damon’s 'The Martian' Character description: A newly discovered flower has been named after the resourceful character Matt Damon portrays in “The Martian.” canonical: https://time.com/4238060/matt-damon-the-martian-flower/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-25T22:32:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:16:30.840Z article:section: Science og:title: Newly Discovered Flower Named After Matt Damon’s 'The Martian' Character og:description: "A space-deserted protagonist who studies plants as a profession is something extraordinary" og:url: https://time.com/4238060/matt-damon-the-martian-flower/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b836a53406e6c59/69887f2c2dce0115e19e7f72/flower.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: flower og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Newly Discovered Flower Named After Matt Damon’s 'The Martian' Character twitter:description: "A space-deserted protagonist who studies plants as a profession is something extraordinary" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b836a53406e6c59/69887f2c2dce0115e19e7f72/flower.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Newly Discovered Flower Named After Matt Damon’s _The Martian_ Character  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Feb 25, 2016 10:32 PM UTC  Emma Frawley, coauthor of the research paper in PhytoKeys, works on the new species of plants in a greenhouse. Emma Frawley, coauthor of the research paper in PhytoKeys, works on the new species of plants in a greenhouse.Brett Simpson Photography 2015/Courtesy Chris Martine  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Feb 25, 2016 10:32 PM UTC A [newly discovered flower](http://phytokeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=6995) has been named after the resourceful character Matt Damon portrays in [_The Martian_](http://time.com/4055413/martian-movie-review-science-accuracy-matt-damon/). Scientists have dubbed the new Australian plant species “solanum watney” after Mark Watney, the fictional astronaut who gets stranded on Mars and uses the planet’s soil to grow potatoes to survive until he can be rescued. Chris Martine, the lead author of the research published Thursday in in the journal _PhytoKeys_, said the honor was deserved due to the rare role botanists play as heroes in pop culture. “We botanists often feel like underdogs, to be perfectly honest,” said Martine, an associate professor of biology at Bucknell University. “Scientist heroes are already unusual in Hollywood, but a space-deserted protagonist who studies plants as a profession is something extraordinary.” The plant Damon’s character grows on the red planet is a member of the same genus as the newly discovered flower, which thrives in red soil in its native habitat, researchers said. And in real life, Martian soil has the nutrients plants would need to survive, [according to NASA.](http://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-mars-soil) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4238060/matt-damon-the-martian-flower/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4238060/matt-damon-the-martian-flower/"},"headline":"Newly Discovered Flower Named After Matt Damon’s The Martian Character","datePublished":"2016-02-25T22:32:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:16:30.840Z","description":"\"A space-deserted protagonist who studies plants as a profession is something extraordinary\"","url":"https://time.com/4238060/matt-damon-the-martian-flower/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b836a53406e6c59/69887f2c2dce0115e19e7f72/flower.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b836a53406e6c59/69887f2c2dce0115e19e7f72/flower.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"flower","caption":"Emma Frawley, coauthor of the research paper in PhytoKeys, works on the new species of plants in a greenhouse.","creditText":"Brett Simpson Photography 2015/Courtesy Chris Martine","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4238060/matt-damon-the-martian-flower/","name":"Newly Discovered Flower Named After Matt Damon’s The Martian Character"}}]}] ```