Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 16:22:00 -0400 From: JEFFREY WELCH <WELCH.JEFFREY@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1669$foo@default> Subject: Mass Marketed Cps and poaching
Hi Folks,
(and especially Dean, Joe, Isao, and Bob. I haven't forgotten you!!!)
Of the US$3 plants I've seen at the larger garden/hardware mega-stores,
I'd say 95% appear to have originated from tissue culture. I would also
predict that the bulk of these plants were originally from the Agri-Starts 3
operation in Florida headed by Mike Rinck. They ship out tissue cultured
CP started in 72 cell packs usually priced less than US$1 per plant (I.e.
0.58/standard Dionaea). For the most part these plants go to companies
who replant into cups and resell to the larger stores. The presence of
Nepenthes madagascariensis is a good indication that the batch of plants
was from TC, as it grows like a weed in vitro.
There was another report of a suitcase intercepted at the Baltimore
airport with 12000 Venus Flytraps bound for the Netherlands. The
suitcase's owner, a Dutch nurseryman was charged with illegally
exporting the plants. The plants were listed as ferns. A North Carolina
nurseryman (not from the Wilmington area) has been charged with
supplying false documentation on the plants. Remember, these are
currently just charges.
For those folks with long memories, another Dutch nurseryman was
caught in late 1996 at the Baltimore airport while trying to smuggle wild
collected Venus Flytraps to Europe. He was arrested held in the United
States until April 1997, when he entered a guilty plea. He was
sentenced to the time already spent in jail.
Take care!
Jeff
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