by Megan Barstow, Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Paphiopedilum canhii
The world’s botanic gardens are uniquely placed to fight against the increasing threat to wild plants from poaching. This is a growing threat to numerous garden favourites, such as orchids (Hinsley et al. 2017), cacti, succulents (Marquiles et al. 2023), and cycads (Williamson et al. 2016), which are being taken from the wild as part of the illegal plant trade. Illegal harvest occurs due to demand for ornamentals, house plants and collectors’ items. Many people purchasing plants are unaware that this a potential risk to species, and that the plants they are purchasing may be entering markets from illegal sources. It is therefore essential that the botanic garden community take up action, raise awareness and educate their garden visitors about this growing crisis.
The threat to plants from illegal trade is huge and only growing. For example, at least nine species of succulents are assumed to have gone extinct in the last five years due to poaching in South Africa (SANBI pers. Comm 2023). There is a similar story for orchids, with cases of recently described species becoming functionally extinct in the wild within one year of scientific identification (Averyanov et al. 2014). Cycads are one of the most threatened plant groups in the world due to the illegal harvest and trade of this ancient plant lineage. Species of succulents, magnolia, palms, and camellia are similarly at risk. 
The role botanic gardens can play in saving these species is highlighted in the recently published Botanic Gardens Conservation International 2024 Technical Review: The importance of botanic gardens in tackling the illegal plant trade. The report explores the many actions being taken by botanic gardens to protect these species from extinction.
These activities occur across five broad themes, which are fundamental to the working role of any botanic garden:
- Propagation and maintaining collections
- Visitors and education
- Research and technology
- Engagement with law enforcement
- Collaboration and networks
Many gardens in the United States are already spearheading action across these five themes which are explored in case studies across the Technical Review (Barstow et al. 2024) and abridged below.
The US is unique in that it has a well-established Plant Rescue Centre system, through which botanic gardens are able to look after and, in some cases, use confiscated collections that have been seized by customs due to breaches of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, also known as CITES. There are 62 Plant Rescue Centres in the US who receive these confiscated plants, through a system that is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFW). This is exemplified at the US Botanic Garden who care for 193 confiscated collections which includes orchids, succulents, and cacti. Some collections are cared for only in the garden’s nurseries, where plants are returned to health and propagated to be shared with other Plant Rescue Centres to diversify collections. Others are planted into the garden and used in exhibitions in different glass houses where they can be used to raise visitor awareness.
Photo by Linnea Stephan
It is a garden’s visitors who are a unique asset to tackling the illegal plant trade. Garden visitors can be made aware through signage and tour groups about the risk to different groups of species in the wild due to illegal plant poaching. At Naples Botanic Garden in Florida their garden tours discuss the illegal plant trade while touring through their succulent and cacti gardens. While at the Huntington Botanic Garden in California, who have experienced poaching within their own collection, they installed signs where plants have been stolen to raise awareness of this threat to plants. In both cases the topic of the illegal plant trade is often new to garden visitors and introduces visitors to a threat to plants that they often associate with charismatic animals (Marguiles et al. 2019). It is this knowledge gap that we need to tackle in botanic gardens around the world.
Luckily, many people across the globe are interested in growing and caring for plant species and we have an audience with whom to engage and educate about where the plants we are purchasing come from. These steps have already been taken at The Huntington who are actively working with the Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA). The CSSA has already produced a poster for its members providing purchasing guidance for spotting plants which might have been illegally sourced.
The Huntington also has a strong propagation programme for cacti and succulents which they then sell at annual plant sales, to provide an ethical and sustainable supply of these threatened species. Gardens propagating their collections of threatened species for sale has also occurred for cycads at the Montgomery Botanical Centre. This garden has a focus on propagating cycad and palm seeds for distribution to researchers, botanical institutions, and the horticultural industry. This aims to reduce pressure on wild populations and provide a reliable market source of ethically produced seed and plants. This has been successful on a number of occasions in particular for the Critically Endangered palm Microcycas calocoma (Kay et al. 2011). From the three plants they had, they were able to gather and produce hand pollinated seeds for the market and reduce the prices of seeds for the species, making it more common across cultivation.
Microcycas calocoma cone at Montgomery Botanical Center
Additionally, the Montgomery Botanical Centre is also leading the way for other ex situ and also in situ conservation for cycads, as it hosts the Global Conservation Consortia for Cycads. This is one example of how engaging with networks is beneficial for gardens and species. It illustrates the multipronged approach of protecting species from the illegal plant trade in that targeted action is needed in consumer areas, but also direct action is needed in sites where these iconic plants still remain in the wild. Nowhere is this highlighted more than at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Here, there has been a staggering increase in the number of confiscated plant collections being received. It is currently estimated that SANBI has taken possession of over 1 million confiscated succulent, cycad or bulbous species. This is a huge number of species to care for with limited resources, and plants keep arriving. Through a grant from the Irish Museums Trust some additional capacity was provided for a short time but more needs to be done to prevent the collections from perishing.
In Mexico, the illegal trade of cacti is similarly accelerating. Cadereyta Regional Botanic Garden has set up a local campaign called “Déjalos en su tierra” (or ‘leave them in the land’ in English), which hosts workshops and provides merchandise to local communities informing them to not take cacti from their land and instead ‘leave them in the land’. They also engage widely with CITES authorities in the country to enhance enforcement and look for opportunities to work with other gardens within Mexico to support the proper horticultural management of cacti in Mexico.
There are numerous audiences to engage with to prevent plant extinction from illegal plant trade and it is not possible for a single botanic garden to tackle all the issues. In 2023 BGCI established an Illegal Plant Trade Campaign to bring gardens together who have a vested interest in tackling the illegal plant trade. This small working group has been coming together for a year now to share ideas and strategise on how to best prevent plant extinctions through awareness raising with key audiences. Each garden brings its own expertise and, with the 2024 technical review identifying gaps and needs, in 2025 the campaign group will be working to update resources for botanic garden staff to both increase their own knowledge and capacity as well as provide outreach resources for garden visitors. These tools will be hosted on the BGCI website and are likely to include CITES training and best practise information on propagation of focal species for garden staff. For visitors, schemes for tour guides and ideas for garden signs will be provided alongside a suite of social media material to spread the message wide and far.
The goal of the campaign is to prevent plant extinctions from illegal poaching and to do this we need as many individuals and gardens involved as possible. Do you work in a garden who is interested in getting involved with BGCI’s Illegal Plant Trade Campaign? We are actively recruiting members to make pledges and share campaign material in 2025. Please email policy@bgci.org for more information.
You can view this BGCI Webinar: The importance of botanic gardens in tackling the illegal plant trade (September 2024)
Megan Barstow is the Conservation Policy Manager at Botanic Gardens Conservation International. She has been based at BGCI for eight years, predominantly working on the Global Tree Assessment with a particular focus on producing IUCN Red List Assessments for species of timber tree and Southeast Asian tree species. She is the author of several red list publications for trees and BGCI’s 2024 Technical Review on the Illegal Plant Trade. Megan continues her work on timber species with a project focused in Africa on data gathering for conservation and sustainable use of trees. She is also currently BGCI’s focal point for CITES, CBD and The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
References
Averyanov, L.V., Pham, V.T., Ke, L.P., Tien, H.N., Xuan, C.C., Tien, V.N. and Quan, H.N., (2014). Field survey of Paphiopedilum canhii: from discovery to extinction. Slipper Orchids, 24(4), pp.16-26.
Barstow, M., Dobai, N. and Cowell, C. (2024). The importance of botanic gardens in tackling the illegal plant trade. BGCI, Richmond, UK
Hinsley, A., De Boer, H.J., Fay, M.F., Gale, S.W., Gardiner, L.M., Gunasekara, R.S., Kumar, P., Masters, S., Metusala, D., Roberts, D.L. and Veldman, S., 2018. A review of the trade in orchids and its implications for conservation. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 186(4), pp.435-455.
Kay, J., Strader, A., Murphy, V., Nghiem-Phu, L., Calonje, M,m & Griffith, M. 2011. Palma Corcho: A Case Study in Botanic Garden Conservation Horticulture and Economics. Horttechnology. 21. 474-481. 10.21273/HORTTECH.21.4.474.
Margulies, J.D., Bullough, L.A., Hinsley, A., Ingram, D.J., Cowell, C., Goettsch, B., Klitgård, B.B., Lavorgna, A., Sinovas, P. and Phelps, J., (2019). Illegal wildlife trade and the persistence of “plant blindness”. Plants, People, Planet, 1(3), pp.173-182.
Margulies, J.D., Moorman, F.R., Goettsch, B., Axmacher, J.C. and Hinsley, A., (2023). Prevalence and perspectives of illegal trade in cacti and succulent plants in the collector community. Conservation Biology, 37(3), p.e14030.
Williamson, J., Maurin, O., Shiba, S.N.S., Van der Bank, H., Pfab, M., Pilusa, M., Kabongo, R.M. and Van der Bank, M., 2016. Exposing the illegal trade in cycad species (Cycadophyta: Encephalartos) at two traditional medicine markets in South Africa using DNA barcoding. Genome, 59(9), pp.771-781.
