AgriLife Researcher Breeds Blue Hibiscus

After four years, AgriLife Research plant physiologist and forage agronomist Dr. Dariusz Malinowski and colleagues have finally bred blue-flowering winter-hardy hibiscus. The breeding project started as a personal hobby of the breeders and eventually became a part of the strategic plan of Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in 2009, in recognition of under-utilized crops that have value because of drought tolerance.

"A blue pigment does not exist in this species, thus hybridizers have not been successful so far in creating a plant with blue flowers," he said. "It took four years of work and more than 1,000 crosses among three winter-hardy hibiscus species to achieve this goal of creating an almost-blue flowering hibiscus hybrid," he said.

Malonowski will use this "almost-blue" hybrid as parent to produce a true blue breed with the flower size of 12 inches in diameter, 5 inches higher than the current hybrid. After this, they will work on producing an orange flowering hardy hibiscus with through molecular breeding.

Read more at http://agnews.tamu.edu/showstory.php?id=2114.