What a great question! I can understand your concern as you are correct in that the term "rustler" was connected with cattle theives, but in the rose world, it's used in a different way.

If you search the HMF EZINE, there are a few articles about rose rustling. Just use the TEXT SEARCH, enter the word "rustle" "rustling" in the SEARCH field (without the quotes), click SEARCH and a few articles about rose ruslting will come up.

There are some rules that make the process more socially acceptible. Rose rustlers are seeking roses which have often been lost to commerce and are found at abandoned homesteads or old cemeteries. The correct procedure is to do all that one can to get permission to take cuttings, and not to take so many cuttings that the plant will be endangered. Many rose rustlers will also do all that they can to preserve the location of the plant, but not sufficiently so that others will take cuttings to the point where the plant cannot survive.

If you do an ADVANCED SEARCH using the class FOUND, the search results will give you a list of roses that have been found and preserved for identification and for future generations. You can click on the GARDENS tab on the rose page and see where they have been preserved. Some of them have been reintroduced into commerce with their study names.

Smiles,
Lyn