Officials destroy rare plants

AUSTRALIAN quarantine officials have acknowledged they reacted a bit too hastily when they destroyed a rare, centuries-old collection of plants from France due to paperwork problems.

The Museum of Natural History in Paris sent the flowering plant specimens to a research centre in Queensland.

When they arrived in Australia in January, officials determined that the accompanying paperwork failed to comply with the country’s notoriously strict quarantine rules.

Quarantine authorities tried to get proper documentation from the Queensland Herbarium but, before they could, biosecurity officers destroyed the plants, the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources said yesterday.

Michelle Waycott, of the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, said the specimens dated back to the mid1800s and were irreplaceable.