Re: VFT Confiscated
Marj Boyer (Marj_Boyer@mail.agr.state.nc.us)
Mon, 28 Oct 96 11:38:36 EST
An addendum to Sean Barry's reply to Guido Braem's 10/26 inquiry about
the Case of the Confiscated VFT's. I'm tweaked by the question "Or was
it a hoax like many other cases of this kind?" What hoaxes have been
put out there? In the case in question, I was part of a team of
botanists that counted and assessed the confiscated plants (8190 VFT's
and 132 Sarracenia purpurea - the latter serendipitous, we didn't even
know the pitcher plants were there until we fished them out of the
bags). Besides the evidence of the native soil on the plants' roots,
and the variety of size & condition of the VFT's, there were, mixed in
with the VFT's & Sarr's, fresh live bits of several other native plant
species that grow in North Carolina VFT & S. purp. habitat and would
not be found in cultivation.
You'll be glad to know that the confiscated plants have since been
given a good home, on public land.