And we’re starting at the top.

It’s official: the Nissan Leaf has blown in. And it’s rustled up a massive following even though it hasn’t even hit American streets. Just search #leaf and #nissan on Twitter and you’ll get the picture. People are ponying up $99 to reserve their Leaf site unseen, unless you count the exceptional campaign to launch the brand.

But ever since Nissan unveiled this category-killing electric vehicle last summer, Leaf’s genius has been about more than its modest price-tag, beautiful design or lack of tail pipe. It’s the name, people. It’s the name.

In one swift coup, Nissan hijacked the entire semiosis of the green conversation. It took the most intuitive, beloved and overused icon of the green movement and stamped the Nissan logo onto it. Naming its revolutionary EV ride the Leaf is stupidly obvious and wickedly subversive all at once. According to Treehugger, the name was a closely guarded secret until its reveal in Yokohama, Japan. The brand masters at Nissan cut straight to the core of the sustainable ethos with this name and simultaneously demoted everyone else’s effort to use the leaf as an icon of environmentalism.

Brilliance. And that’s just the name. You will note the Leaf’s identity doesn’t even use an actual leaf — nor will you even see the color green here.

As happy as we are that this car is on the market, we’re even happier at what this brand’s identity accomplishes in the cacophonous green marketplace. And so, with much respect to those who have redefined the definitive symbol of the green life, we’re kicking off a daily feature for Mighty Good Planet: Leaf of the Day.

Every day for the next 10 years, we will spotlight a logo that features a leaf. We figure there are at least 3,650 to stick under the microscope, right?

Of course, some are killer, some need to be composted. That’s why, like we said, we’re starting at the top. Check back tomorrow for your next lesson in botany.