The Electronic Trade in Greek Endemic Plants: Biodiversity, Commercial and Legal Aspects

Abstract

The Electronic Trade in Greek Endemic Plants: Biodiversity, Commercial and Legal Aspects. We present for the first time an analytical survey of the Greek endemic plants traded over the Internet (n = 588 cases). A total of 145 taxa corresponding to ca. 10% of the Greek endemic flora were found to be traded by 73 nurseries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Of the traded taxa, 35% feature in the websites of only one nursery, and ca. 10% in websites of more than 10 nurseries. Most traded are members of Campanulaceae, Iridaceae, Lamiaceae, and Liliaceae. The live plant is the commonest form of sale, at an average price of EUR (Euros) 6.38/USD 8.61; most expensive is Ophrys kotschyi ssp. cretica (EUR 20.46/USD 27.60). The price range for individual bulbs is EUR 0.24-5.67 (USD 0.32-7.65), whereas for seeds, it is EUR 0.03-0.93 (USD 0.04-1.26) per seed, and EUR 0.07-44.0 (USD 0.09-59.36) on a per gram basis, with Draba cretica being the most expensive in the latter case. Many of the traded taxa face the risk of extinction: 6 are designated as endangered, 27 as vulnerable, 5 as near threatened, and 32 as rare; of these, 30 are steno-endemics, confined in one (12 taxa) up to five localities (18 taxa). Overall, 58 taxa are protected at the national and 19 at the international level. We cannot estimate the degree to which this commerce is legal. Nevertheless, none of the nurseries surveyed seem to have been granted a permit from the authorities of Greece to harvest and sell its wild flora. We recommend regular surveillance of popular Internet sites in order to curb illegal commerce, and suggest that nurseries' websites should declare that the plant material sold is not of wild origin and has been legally obtained. State authorities should take action to protect biodiversity, but also exert the rights deriving from national laws and international treaties regarding the exploitation of their countries' genetic resources. © 2014 The New York Botanical Garden.