UPLB develops new gumamela hybrid

A new gumamela (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) hybrid has been bred by University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) researchers.

It has been named Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Estrella Alabastro’ after Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro.

The plant was presented to Dr. Alabastro by UPLB officials led by Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco at a research symposium organized by the Los Baños-based DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

The "Alabastro" gumamela is the third in the Oblation Series developed by the UPLB Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) to celebrate and immortalize UP’s "women of substance". The Oblation Series is being issued in celebration of the UP centennial in 2008.

The first two gumamela hybrids were named after current UP president Dr. Emerlinda Ramos-Roman and UP Regent Nelia Gonzales.

In dedicating the third hybrid to Dr. Alabastro, UPLB said:

"Dr. Estrella F. Alabastro rightfully belongs to the rarest and choicest of Filipino women. She is a pillar of the science and technology sector where her work and leadership are highly recognized and respected.

"UPLB certainly enjoys the rare honor to produce a beautiful immortalization of this remarkable Filipina. Let this be our little way of thanking her for her service to the sector to which we belong."

Over the years, UP Los Baños has been developing new crop varieties and ornamentals and naming them after outstanding Filipino women, among them the heroines of the 1898 Philippine Revolution, highly accomplished women scientists, First Ladies of the Republic, and acclaimed artists of the Philippine cinema. — Rudy A. Fernandez