Most great scientists have prizes named after them. Or university buildings.

Not Bob Drewes, a Palo Alto resident and one of the world’s leading experts on African reptiles. Drewes has been forever immortalized with something that may have other researchers glancing over with envy — or chuckles. A mushroom named after a part of the male anatomy. His anatomy.

In the scientific equivalent of the full monty, one of Drewes colleagues discovered a new species of mushroom in the tiny nation of São Tomé, a tropical island off West Africa. He named it Phallus drewesii.

For those a little rusty on their high school Latin, it means “Drewes’ Penis.”

The randy new species will be formally exposed to the world this month when a photo spread of the mushroom graces the cover of Mycologia, a leading scientific journal of fungi.

“I am utterly delighted. The funny thing is that it is the second smallest known mushroom in this genus and it grows sideways, almost limp,” said Drewes, who is curator of herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences.

Drewes was leading an expedition up a mountain in the jungles of São Tomé in 2006 with a team of scientists when his longtime friend, Dennis Desjardin, found the two-inch species, which is technically a new type of stinkhorn mushroom that grows on wood, emits a foul odor and attracts flies.

Desjardin, a mushroom expert and biology professor at San Francisco State University, recognized it as a rare find, made a few jokes, and the name stuck.

Drewes considers the suggestive fungus an honor, though he’s aware biology students will be snickering for generations to come.

“I’ve got four kids and a bunch of grandkids. None of my colleagues or them will let me live it down,” Drewes said. “But I love it. It is a form of immortality.”

Contact Paul Rogers at progers@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5045.