Mission Statement:

We work to conserve and nurture the world wealth of herbaceous ornamental plant diversity to bring happiness and health to humankind.

Goal:

To build the OPGC into the world's leading herbaceous ornamental plant genebank.

Objectives:

The following objectives define our functions in genebanking, research and develoment, and education and training:

• To establish an herbaceous ornamental plant genebank as an integrated component of the USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS)

• To build a network of cooperators from the horticultural industry, universities, botanic gardens & arboreta, USDA, crop specific societies and individual gardeners

• To establish a system that promotes industry oriented collaborative research to enhance germplasm utilization

• To institute academic programs and industrial short courses in germplasm conservation

Benefits:

The OPGC benefits industry and consumers by preserving unique genetic material essential for present and future crops that:

• Are resistant to pests and disease

• Require fewer economic inputs

• Promote consumer-product appeal through expansion of crop diversity in form, color and fragrance

• May exhibit biological activity valuable to pharmaceutical, nutriceutical and agrochemical researchers

Activities:

The OPGC assists plant researchers, the scientific community and consumers by:

• Collecting, documenting and conserving genetic variation present in ornamentals and their wild relatives

• Exchanging germplasm domestically and internationally to broaden the genetic base

• Identifying and evaluating useful genetic traits desired by the industry and consumers

• Providing germplasm to researchers in industry, universities, and other institutions for developing improved ornamentals

• Developing genetic maps of desirable traits for transfer into ornamental plants

• Identifying methods for successful long term storage of ornamental germplasm as seed, tissue culture, and bulbs