Gubat Tour

#gubat  Thursday tour at UP Arboretum Diliman is a soft introduction to over 10,000  vascular plant species native to the Philippines.  This is one of the five walking tours conducted for free as part of the February-March 2019 Lakad Gunita program held at the Diliman campus.

Prior to the actual tour to the various flora quadrants, briefing was made at the Institute of Biology  by the Asian Institute of Tourism guides on the do's and don'ts for better appreciation and safety. Tour took about over 2 hours where 2 groups of over 10 were led by resource persons and a watchful AIT guide.

Prior to the actual tour to the various flora quadrants, briefing was made at the Institute of Biology by the AIT guides on the do's and don'ts for better appreciation and safety. Tour took about over 2 hours where two groups of over 10 were led by resource persons and a watchful AIT guide.

One group was led by Davis Ples, a university research associate at the institute and Ramon Bandong, a senior administrative aide on Ecology and Taxonomy; the other group was led by Toto Adviento, an horticulturist, Bobby Zapata and Noel Malacid, a graphic artist with special interest in plants. Two groups towards the end converged at the herbarium with David Ples giving a lecture and demonstration on how to preserve plant specimen. Resource experts put focus on native flora, the interrelationship among flora, fauna, man and nature.

One of the highlights was a tribute made to the late Leonard Co for his valuable contribution in the collection and study of plants from all over the country. Leonardo Legaspi Co was a Filipino botanist and plant taxonomist who during his lifetime was considered the "foremost authority in ethnobotany in the Philippines." A stone was erected in front of his favorite tree where he would study and review his outputs. His numerous collections are still for further processing and may take time due to the constraints on experts and resources in the country.

#gubat tour aims to enlighten enthusiasts on the value of plants in this planet. For someone with no formal education in Biology, this half day tour was an eye opener on the value of plants, the rich resources in the Philippines and the need to study more to better appreciate wildlife in this country. This alone deserves a commendable credit to the OICA, AIT, the academe of the Institute and supporters of flora.

If there was a quiz on the Latin tags of the specimen, I would have failed. It helped that printed references are flashed, markers with relevant info are placed, trees are tagged correspondingly to a number printed on the marker, participants are cooperative and behaved and the resource persons helpful, friendly and accommodating with lots of trivia, humor and facts.

I will not forget the learnings: we have a rich diversity of flora many of which are still unidentified, no plants are the same, no forests are the same, native is better, humanity interacts with and is dependent on plants. Let us value them.

Our thanks for the time and effort sharing your knowledge. #gubatthursdays