A seedy business

Six of the most in-demand black-market plants

LADY’S-SLIPPER ORCHID

Once common across Britain, its populations dwindled as a result of clearances, grazing and collecting. Artificially propagated plants, raised from seed to flowering in cultivation, are available to buy from specialist retailers and will grow outside.

DENDROBIUM NOBILE

Another orchid, this has uses in traditional Chinese medicine – it has been valued as a tonic and strengthening supplement. More recently, it has gained popularity as a bodybuilding supplement. The plant can be grown indoors in containers in the UK.

SAGUARO CACTUS

The saguaro’s distinctive arms can take 75 years to grow. It thrives in Arizona, where cutting one down without a permit is punishable with 25 years in prison.

SNOWDROPS

At Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, which holds one of the National Trust’s most prized collections, thousands of bulbs have been security-tagged to deter robbers.

SPHAGNUM MOSS

A vital part of upland ecosystems, this can hold up to eight times its weight in water. As an important component of many hanging baskets and wreaths, most commercial florists buy it from dedicated farms, but it is also found in peat bogs, where thieves dig it out.

CYCADS

More than 200 million years old, making it one of the oldest plant groups on earth. Grown in tropical and subtropical regions, specimens can be worth up to £1,000. There have been highprofile thefts in Florida and South Africa.

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