The
Foundation Plant Materials Service (FPMS) rose collection originated in the 1950s as part of a program set up by Dr. George Nyland to detect and eliminate virus infections in rose plants. Dr. Nyland's program established a block of virus-indexed plants that became the basis for the FPMS rose collection. Disease-tested scion budwood and understock canes are available to the public for the purpose of establishing healthy cutting blocks for commercial production.
The FPMS rose garden at the University of California, Davis, has more than 475 varieties of roses, primarily hybrid teas and floribundas, together with six varieties of understock.
[From
A Rose Collection for a Healthy Future, p. 26-28: the mission of the FPMS] is to collect valuable varieties of selected important horticultural crops, test them for viruses, and make the virus-tested, clean stock available to nurseries and growers... crop programs include grapes, fruit trees, nut trees, sweet potatoes, strawberries and roses... [spanning 8 acres, it is] the largest public collection of virus-tested roses in the United States. It includes more than 400 varieties of rose scions as well as seven different selections of rootstock... all new
AARS winners are entered into the FPMS program... Any nursery grower in the United States can purchase both scion and rootstock with the assurance they have been screened for
rose mosaic virus disease. Dormant and green cuttings are sold, but not rooted plants...
