I would definitely advise everyone to NOT collect live plants in the
field. In the US at least, you are violating international law
(CITES), IRS regulations (Tax Evasion of undeclared goods), and Customs
Regulations (Smuggling). Several countries have occasionally
intercepted illegal plant mailings and are pushing for maximum
enforcement of CITES law. Anyone who has been to Malaysia, etc, is
subject to scrutiny. Once you get a CITES inspector in your house,
they have every authority to impound all plant material on the CITES
list that does not have valid import certificates. (do you have CITES
paperwork for you N.khasiana?) Inspectors are notoriously bad taxonomists,
and are quite likely to impound anything possessing a pitcher.
Collecting live Nepenthes from the field is particularly bad practice
because such plants cannot be tissue cultured (due to fungal
contamination). Such plants contribute little to further propagation of
the species (except for pollen and seed production years down the line).
Wild collected plants often do not adapt to cultivation and die. Seed
grown under cultivated conditions is genetically selected towards
cultivation conditions (assuming only a small percent of the seed
actually germinates).
Seed collection, with permits, is the only acceptible way to import
endangered plant material.
>From Tom (in Fl):
> Personally I have no knowledge of this happening or even any situation
> which would allow it to happen. Property laws are pretty strong here
> in the US. I know of no situation which would allow the wholesale
> confiscation of personal property.
Cars, houses, boats, planes, and bank accounts are routinely taken away
by the police if there is a suspicion (even unproven) of laundering drug
money. If you are rich, and are found with marijuana, some juridictions
will happily finance their police department by confiscation. In the
US, having an in-vitro flask with 500 identifiable Hemp plants merits a
mandatory federal death penalty. Here in the Pacific Northwest, picking
the wrong wild mushroom is counted as possession of a Schedule I drug,
and is subject to prosecution as a Felony (imprisonment and property
forfeiture). There is trend to make these penalties mandatory, so that
judges have no leeway to use common sense.
I readily admit that there are stupid laws (CITES, etc), but we should
work to change them, rather than to break them.
-- Rick Walker