6 replies to this topic

[manders]

Wickepedia claims its as low as two, at only one known site.  Are there more than this?  Recently rigidifolia was offered for sale on this forum from plants imported from Sumatra.  What are the chances of these being ripped from the wild?  If theyre not, then great, but is it likely?

[Gareth Davies]

I think it's largely good news on rigidifolia.
Well, in good news: I understand that a new population has been discovered; in bad news, it's well known to those who know about it, making it vulnerable. In more good news, I heard a rumour that those who know about it are watching it for future flowering and seeds (and not ripping the plants up for sale.)
In more good news, MT are offering very small numbers of plants- grown from seed- for sale. In bad news, the chances of an MT import into the UK are low.
In more good news, I'm told that the new population of wild plants looks free of contamination from spectabilis (unlike the previous site, where all the true species plants had been removed , leaving nothing but spectabilis-rigidifolia hybrids.) In bad news, the photo of the MT seedlings on their site looks like spectabilis.

[manders]

So what about the plants offered for sale here in the last weeks and imported from sumatra?  Ripped from the wild or what?  MT used to sell rigidifolia but seemed to stop after defra demanded they prove the parent plants, not the plants for sale, where not ripped from the wild.  I hadnt noticed they where for sale again on that site, ill have to take a look.  They used to have them in tc, maybe they lost them.

Why is it difficult to import MT plants, ive done it several times in the past?

Edited by manders, 15 June 2012 - 22:48 PM.

[Gareth Davies]

I understand that MT lost their original cultures and the new ones that are now offered on their website are grown from seeds.
I'm sure that if you could import plants from MT, then you'd be very popular indeed... I looked into the procedure for doing imports and became baffled by the sheer amount of complicated bureaucracy.

I don't know about the plants imported from Sumatra... I guess that for every person who would like to watch the wild population for the potential of some seeds in future, others will just grub up plants and illegally export them.

[manders]

Its a few years since i imported from MT, the procedure itself wasnt too onerous but MT werent the most efficient company ive ever dealt with and once or twice the shipments were delayed for several months due to permits expiring and having to be re-applied for and so on.  In fact one delay was because Defra went very deeply into enquiring about the legal origins of the MT aptera plants in particular.

[Richard Bunn]

Can I ask who are MT?  

[manders]

Richard Bunn, on 16 June 2012 - 17:31 PM, said:

Can I ask who are MT?  

Malesiana Tropicals