The Electronic Trade in Greek Endemic Plants: Biodiversity,Commercial and Legal Aspects1

NIKOS KRIGAS*,2,3, VIKTORIA MENTELI2, AND DESPOINA VOKOU

2

2Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki,GR-54124, Greece

3Laboratory of Systematic Botany and Phytogeography, Department of Botany, Aristotle University ofThessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GR-54124, Greece*Corresponding author; e-mail: nkrigas@bio.auth.gr

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 theInternet (n = 588 cases). A total of 145 taxa corresponding to ca. 10% of the Greek endemic florawere found to be traded by 73 nurseries in Europe, North America, and Australia. Of the tradedtaxa, 35% feature in the websites of only one nursery, and ca. 10% in websites of more than 10nurseries. Most traded are members of Campanulaceae, Iridaceae, Lamiaceae, and Liliaceae. Thelive plant is the commonest form of sale, at an average price of EUR (Euros) 6.38/USD 8.61; mostexpensive isOphrys kotschyi ssp. cretica (EUR 20.46/USD 27.60). The price range for individualbulbs 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 beingthe most expensive in the latter case. Many of the traded taxa face the risk of extinction: 6 aredesignated as endangered, 27 as vulnerable, 5 as near threatened, and 32 as rare; of these, 30 aresteno-endemics, confined in one (12 taxa) up to five localities (18 taxa). Overall, 58 taxa areprotected at the national and 19 at the international level. We cannot estimate the degree towhich this commerce is legal. Nevertheless, none of the nurseries surveyed seem to have beengranted a permit from the authorities of Greece to harvest and sell its wild flora. We recommendregular surveillance of popular Internet sites in order to curb illegal commerce, and suggest thatnurseries’ websites should declare that the plant material sold is not of wild origin and has beenlegally obtained. State authorities should take action to protect biodiversity, but also exert therights deriving from national laws and international treaties regarding the exploitation of theircountries’ genetic resources.

Η ηλεκτρονική αγορά των ενδημικών φυτών της Ελλάδας: βιοποικιλότητα, εμπορικά καινομικά ζητήματα. Παρουσιάζονται αποτελέσματα έρευνας που έγινε για πρώτη φορά σχετικάμε το διαδικτυακό εμπόριο των ενδημικών φυτών της Ελλάδας. Εντοπίστηκαν 588περιπτώσειςεμπορίας από 73 φυτώρια στην Ευρώπη, τη Βόρειο Αμερική και την Αυστραλία. Αφορούν 145taxa που αντιστοιχούν σε περίπου 10% της ενδημικής χλωρίδας της χώρας. Εμπορευόμενααπό πολλά φυτώρια (>10) εμφανίζονται 10% αυτών των taxa, ενώ 35% από μόνον ένα.Κυριαρχούν εκπρόσωποι των Campanulaceae, Iridaceae, Lamiaceae και Liliaceae. Το ζωντανόφυτό είναι η πιο κοινή μορφή πώλησης, με μέση τιμή €6,38 ανά άτομο και ανώτερη €20,46 γιατοOphrys kotschyi ssp. cretica. Για τις άλλες μορφές πώλησης, οι τιμές είναι €0,24–5,67 ανάβολβό, €0,03–0,93 ανά σπέρμα και €0,07–44,0 ανά γραμμάριο σπερμάτων. Στην τελευταίαπερίπτωση, η μέγιστη τιμή αντιστοιχεί στο Draba cretica. Από τα εμπορευόμενα taxa, 58 είναι

1 Received 9 September 2013; accepted 11 February2014; published online 6 March 2014.Krigas Nikos and Menteli Viktoria have equally contrib-uted to the study.

Electronic supplementary material The online ver-sion of this article (doi:10.1007/s12231-014-9264-9)contains supplementary material, which is available toauthorized users.

Economic Botany, 68(1), 2014, pp. 85–95© 2014, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.

προστατευόμενα σε εθνικό και 19 σε διεθνές επίπεδο, 33 χαρακτηρίζονται ως απειλούμενα(κινδυνεύοντα και τρωτά) και 37 ως σχεδόν απειλούμενα ή σπάνια. Από αυτά, 12 έχουνβρεθεί σε μια μόνο τοποθεσία και άλλα 18 σε δύο έως πέντε. Είναι άγνωστο πόσο νόμιμοείναι αυτό το εμπόριο. Ωστόσο, κανένα φυτώριο από όσα εξετάστηκαν δεν φαίνεται να έχειάδεια από τις αρχές της χώρας για συλλογή και πώληση των ενδημικών φυτών της Ελλάδας.Εξετάζοντας μια αγορά που δεν έχει επαρκώς μελετηθεί μέχρι τώρα, η έρευνά μας συμβάλλειστην διάνοιξη ενός νέου πεδίου στην προστασία της βιοποικιλότητας. Για την καταπολέμησητου παράνομου εμπορίου, προτείνουμε συστηματική παρακολούθηση των ιστοσελίδωνμεγάλης επισκεψιμότητας και υποχρέωση των φυτωρίων να δηλώνουν ότι το προς πώλησηφυτικό υλικό δεν προέρχεται από τη φύση και ότι έχει νόμιμα αποκτηθεί. Οι αρμόδιες αρχέςθα πρέπει να λαμβάνουν μέτρα όχι μόνον για την προστασία της βιοποικιλότητας τωνχωρών τους αλλά και την άσκηση των δικαιωμάτων που απορρέουν από την εθνικήνομοθεσία και τις διεθνείς συμβάσεις σχετικά με την εκμετάλλευση των γενετικών πόρων.

Key Words: Conservation, e-commerce, illegal trade, Mediterranean, Nagoya protocol,ethnobotany, threatened species.

IntroductionOverexploitation of natural resources, often ac-

companied by illegal activities, has been identified asone of the principal causes of biodiversity loss(Bradshaw et al. 2009; St. John et al. 2012; Stuartet al. 2004). Illegal trade of wildlife is estimated tobe worth more than USD 20 billion per year (Alacsand Georges 2008; St. John et al. 2012), but thereal magnitude of the activity is still unknown(Flores-Palacios and Valencia-Diaz 2007).Illegal traffic of wild flora is a worldwide

phenomenon (Alacs and Georges 2008; Flores-Palacios and Valencia-Diaz 2007; Jiménez-Sierraand Eguiarte 2010; McMahan and Walter 1989;Sylvester and Avalos 2009; Williams et al. 2012;Wolf and Konings 2001) and has been document-ed in several areas (e.g., Guatemala, Costa Rica,Mexico, Peru, India, Australia, etc.). Yet, data arestill very limited, and assessments providingrelevant information concern only specific groupsof plants (e.g., epiphytic vascular plants) and areusually conducted at a local or regional scale (e.g.,Flores-Palacios and Valencia-Diaz 2007; Olsen andLarsen 2003; Williams et al. 2012).The Internet is considered a convenient medium

for illegal plant traders to advertise and sell theirwares anonymously as it enables direct sale to thebuyer and may eliminate the “middleman” (Alacsand Georges 2008). Trafficking of plants over theInternet has not been scientifically and systemat-ically surveyed, and only a few incidents have beenrevealed so far. One such case is from Australia,where 2,500 mail packages containing commercialproducts for weight loss were seized by the PostServices in Sydney; these products that were soldover the Internet derived from CITES II-listedHoodia plants (Alacs and Georges 2008).

Several legal instruments have been developedtowards preservation of biodiversity and sustainableuse of resources. The Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD) and the Convention on Interna-tional Trade of Endangered Flora and FaunaSpecies (CITES) are the most prominent amongthem at the international level. CITES regulates theinternational trade of endangered species, but it isthe CBD that sets the rules on access and use ofbiological resources. CBD recognizes the primacy ofnational laws (in our case the Greek law) andacknowledges the sovereign rights of countries toregulate access to genetic resources as well as theirright to stipulate the sharing of monetary and non-monetary benefits from utilization of resources.However, a number of issues, such as ownershipand accessibility to genetic resources or conditionsand regulations under which access is feasible andlawful, are controversial and disputed. It was onlyrecently that a legal framework was establishedsetting out general obligations for the contractingparties on how benefits arising from utilization ofthese resources should be shared. This is the“Nagoya Protocol” that has been adopted by theConference of the Parties to the Convention onBiological Diversity at its 10th meeting in Nagoya,Japan. Nevertheless, it has not entered into force,as the requirements are not met yet.On the national scale, countries implement

additional tools to control activities related towildlife (Walter and Gillett 1998). For the com-mercial exploitation of wild species of Greece, agovernment authorization must be issued (Presi-dential Decrees 67/1981, 43/1981, 140/1981,2055/1992, 60/2011, 80B/2011), but collection

86 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 68

from the wild is forbidden for protected orendemic species. In these cases, authorization canbe only conferred for scientific purposes and undercertain conditions. Nonetheless, this legal frame-work is not truly enforced.

Species richness and high endemism are attri-butes of the Greek flora that attract enthusiasts,plant hunters, collectors, traders, horticulturalists,and plant scientists from all over the world. Beingpart of the Mediterranean, which is one of the 25globally identified biodiversity hotspots (Myers etal. 2000), Greece and its flora have gainedinternational recognition (Davis et al. 1994). Ofthe approximately 6,000 native plant taxa, over15% are endemic to Greece. In fact, plantendemism per unit area is 2.1 times higher thannormally expected for the size of the country(Georghiou and Delipetrou 2010). An additionalintriguing aspect of the Greek flora is that it is notfully explored yet. New species have been contin-ually discovered, among which the following onesover the last decade: Omphalodes runemarkii Strid& Kit Tan (Strid and Tan 2005), Acanthusgreuterianus Snogerup, B. Snogerup & Strid(Snogerup et al. 2006), Allium apergii Trigas,Iatrou & Tzanoudakis (Trigas et al. 2010),Campanula saonissia Biel & Kit Tan (Tan andBiel 2011), and Allium orestis Kalpoutzakis, Trigas& Constantinidis (Kalpoutzakis et al. 2012).

The aim of this study is to explore animportant aspect of the wildlife tradeYelectroniccommerceYthus contributing to opening a hith-erto uncharted conservation frontier. In particu-lar, we examine electronic commerce of theendemic plants of Greece. All these plants areglobally rare, whereas several have a very narrowrange, on one island or one mountain (Strid andTan 1997, 2002), and even in only one or just afew localities. Such features put these plants at ahigh risk of extinction if overexploited. Weexamine the plant material traded over theInternet, prices, vendors, and practices that theyfollow, and we explore to what extent thisactivity complies with national laws andinternational treaties.

Materials and MethodsThe World Wide Web was the basic source of

our data. We explored trade-related indicationsfor all endemic species or subspecies of thecountry (taxa). Because there is no single com-prehensive list of the endemic plants of Greece,

we used the recent catalogue that was compiledby Georghiou and Delipetrou (2010). We cross-checked the endemic nature of all taxa includedbased on: Euro+Med (2006–2013), FloraEuropaea (http://eunis.eea.europa.eu/references/1780/species), Strid and Tan (1991, 1997,2002), Strid (1986), and Tan and Iatrou(2001). Using the same sources, we performed anomenclatural check, and we recorded the basicsynonyms of every taxon included in Georghiouand Delipetrou (2010). For each verified taxon,we conducted electronic searches using all itssynonyms.

As a starting point of this study, we selectedtwo major collective websites that incorporatedata from numerous individual nurseries: (i) thePlant Finder of the Royal Horticultural Society(RHS) (http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/index.asp) that includes ca. 70,000 plants fromaround the world and provides access to around500 European nurseries (mainly found in theU.K. and also in France), and (ii) the PlantInformation Online (http://plantinfo.umn.edu/default.asp) that includes ca. 105,000 plants andprovides access to 2,625 North American (mainlyof U.S. and also of Canada) seed and nurseryfirms. Using the general phrase “buy rare plants,”we conducted additional searches on eBay and viaGoogle. The eBay search yielded no results.Regarding Google, we visited the websites thatappeared and checked if the respective nurseriestraded Greek endemic plants. Following thisprocedure, we ended up using seven websites, alltrading more than one such plants. Thesewebsites are the two collective ones, mentionedabove, as well as the following: (iii) http://www.rareplants.de/shop (Germany); (iv) http://www.bulbs-bollen.nl (Netherlands); (v) http://hillviewrareplants.com (The Rare Plant Specialist,Australia); (vi) http://www.hillkeep.ca (PacificRim Native Plant Nursery, Australia); and (vii)http://www.thimblefarms.com (Fraser’s ThimbleFarms, Canada).

Whenever there was some purchase indicationin the collective webpages, we followed a confir-mation procedure (Fig. 1) visiting the webpagesof all nurseries that were indicated as sellingpoints. In case of information conflict, weconsidered the information provided by theindividual nurseries as more accurate than thatprovided by the collective websites, assuming thatthe former are updated more often than the latterif they are to make an important contribution to

87NIKOS ET AL.: ELECTRONIC TRADE IN GREEK ENDEMIC PLANTS2014]

the owner’s business. Plants found to be tradedover the Internet were grouped into three basiccategories: (a) plants of confirmed current trade,(b) plants for which the initial trade indicationwas not further confirmed, and (c) plants thatwere traded in the past (Electronic Supplementa-ry Material [ESM] 1). Apart from the trade status,we also recorded (i) the type of plant materialtraded (seeds, bulbs, live plants), (ii) price andcurrency per type of plant material, (iii) thecountry corresponding to the specific website,and (iv) information on cultivation, if any. Toallow comparisons, relevant information wasconverted to metric system units according tothe International System of Units (http://www.bipm.org/en/si/) and prices to Euros, onthe basis of the 1/1/2012 rate, and from Euros toU.S. dollars on the basis of the 1/3/2013 rate(EUR 1 = USD 1.349). Whenever there wassufficient information, we estimated prices persingle seed, bulb, or individual plant.For each traded taxon, we recorded the most

recent IUCN (International Union for Conserva-

tion of Nature) extinction risk status (IUCN2003) at the national level, according to Phitos etal. (2009, 1995). For taxa not assessed in thesesources, we recorded their IUCN extinction riskstatus, as assigned globally by Walter and Gillett(1998). We note that single-country endemics areexpected to have the same extinction risk statusregardless of scale (Bilz et al. 2011; Brito et al.2010; IUCN 2003; Rodríguez 2008). We alsorecorded which of these plants are included in theAppendices of the EU Directive 92/43/EEC, theBern Convention, and the Greek PresidentialDecree 67/1981 endorsing the CITES provisionsfor Greece. Taxa included in these lists areconsidered protected.We performed a t-test comparison in order to

check whether there is any difference in pricebetween the groups of protected and/or threatenedplants and of all other plants (ESM 1); in the lattergroup, not protected and non-assessed taxa wereincluded. We performed this test only for taxa soldin the form of living individuals, as data wereadequate only for them (37 and 29 taxa making

Step 4

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

A B

Fig. 1. A. Process followed for the confirmation of a trade indication, exemplified by Crocus oreocreticus (Cretanendemic, Greece). Step 1: Plant Finder of the Royal Horticultural Society’s website indicates the nursery(nurseries) trading C. oreocreticus in UK. Step 2: Clicking at the nursery’s link, contact details and the nursery’splant list become accessible (trade indication). Step 3: Viewing the alphabetical nursery’s plant list, it can be seenthat C. oreocreticus is included in it (trade indication). Step 4: Cross-checking search at the specific nursery’swebsite does not confirm the initial indication, since C. oreocreticus is not included in the nursery’s plant list. B.Evidence of discontinued trade, exemplified by Origanum scabrum (Greek endemic); the Plant Finder of the RoyalHorticultural Society’s website is again the starting point.

88 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 68

the two groups). For the other forms of sale (per g,per package, per bulb), the number of taxa makingthe groups were not representative; in all but onecase, they were less than 10 (Table 2).

Nomenclature of families and taxa followsEuro+Med (2006–2013), Flora Europaea online(http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/FE/fe.html), orMed-Checklist (2007–2013).

ResultsDIVERSITY OF TRADED PLANTS

Our survey detected 588 cases of commercialactivity by 73 nurseries in Europe (U.K., Germa-ny, France, Netherlands), North America (U.S.and Canada) and Australia (Table 1, Fig. 2)involving 117 species and 28 subspecies of 30plant families. Among these plants, there are onlytwo trees (Abies cephalonica J. W. Loudon andZelkova abelicea [Lam.] Boiss.), two succulents(Euphorbia deflexa Sibth. & Sm., and Sedumapoleipon 't Hart) and a few aroids (Arum idaeumCoustur. & Gand., A. purpureospathum P. C.Boyce, Biarum davisii Turrill ssp. davisii, B.tenuifolium [L.] Schott ssp. abbreviatum [Schott]K. Richter). The majority are bulbous (55) andseveral are aromatic plants (26). Most abundantlyrepresented are the families of Liliaceae (24 taxa),Campanulaceae (20 taxa), Lamiaceae (14 taxa),and Iridaceae (12 taxa). At the genus level,Campanula is first with 18 traded taxa, followed

by Fritillaria and Crocus with 11, and Allium,Colchicum, and Hypericum with 6 taxa (ESM 1).

COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY

Of the 588 identified cases, 197 correspondto confirmed current trade and 53 to trade inthe past, whereas for 338 cases, the initialindication of trade was not confirmed at thenurseries’ web pages (Table 1, 2, ESM 1). Intotal, 83 taxa of Greek endemic plants arecurrently traded via the Internet, each one by1–12 nurseries, another 40 taxa are not tradedany more, whereas for 22 taxa, trade was notconfirmed (ESM 1). Several taxa were traced inthe webpages of over 10 nurseries; the highestoccurrence is for Erodium chrysanthum L’Hér (in49 websites, currently traded by 12 nurseries)(ESM 2). Plants found for sale in the lists ofmore than 20 nurseries are Centaureaatropurpurea Olivier, Achillea taygetea Boiss. &Heldr., and Origanum dictamnus L., whereasSalvia pomifera L. ssp. pommifera, Crepis incanaSm., Fritillaria davisii Turrill, Abies cephalonica,Teucrium aroanium Orph. ex Boiss., Campanulaincurva Sibth. & Sm., Lithodora zahnii (Halácsy)I. M. Johnst., Crocus goulimyi Turrill, C. niveusBowles, and C. cartwrightianus Herb. appear inthe lists of more than 10 nurseries (Fig. 2).

Of the 73 nurseries selling endemic plants ofGreece, 10 offer general or more specific infor-

Table 1. SUMMARY INFORMA-

TION FOR QUANTITATIVE AS-

PECTS OF THE TRADE OF GREEKENDEMIC TAXA VIA THE

INTERNET.

Attributes Quantity

Number of detected cases of trade involving Greek endemic plants 588of confirmed current trade 197of trade in the past 53of unconfirmed trade 338

Number of taxa involved 145currently traded 83not currently traded 40of unconfirmed trade 22

Number of plant families represented (after all trade categories) 30Number of nurseries involved (after all categories) 73Nurseries selling each taxon (after all categories) 1–49Nurseries involved in a taxon’s current trade 1–12

Number of taxa currently traded as living plants 66Number of taxa currently traded as seeds 36Number of taxa currently traded as bulbs 9Number of taxa nationally protected (after all categories) 58Number of taxa internationally protected (after all categories) 19Number of steno-endemic taxa found in 1–5 localities(after all categories)

30

89NIKOS ET AL.: ELECTRONIC TRADE IN GREEK ENDEMIC PLANTS2014]

mation on plants’ germination and/or on theirgrowth requirements (ESM 1). Such informationis provided for 30 taxa.

MATERIAL FOR SALE AND PRICESThe Greek endemic plants are traded in the

form of live plants (66 taxa), seeds (36 taxa),bulbs (9 taxa), or combinations of the above.Trade takes place exclusively in the form oflive plants or seeds for 44 and 17 taxa,respectively. None of the bulbous plants isexclusively sold in the form of bulbs, whereasonly four are traded in all three forms(Colchicum parnassicum Sart., Orph. & Heldr.,Crocus niveus, Fritillaria davisii, and F. graecaBoiss. & Spruner ssp. graeca) (ESM 2).Prices for the 17 taxa sold as seeds vary

from EUR 0.03/USD 0.04 (Petromarulapinnata [L.] A. DC.) to EUR 0.93/USD 1.26(Cyclamen rhodium O. Schwarz & Lepper) perindividual seed, from EUR 2.50/USD 3.37(Thlaspi bulbosum Spruner) to EUR 14/USD18.89 (Cerastium candidissimum Correns) perseed package (14 taxa, without any informationon the number of seeds included), and fromEUR 0.07/USD 0.09 g-1 (Abies cephalonica) toEUR 44.0/USD 59.36 g-1 (Draba cretica Boiss.

& Heldr.) for taxa (12) sold on a per seed-weightbasis. For plants traded as bulbs, prices rangefrom EUR 0.23/USD 0.31 (Galanthus ikariaeBaker) to EUR 5.67/USD 7.65 (Colchicumparnassicum), whereas for those traded as wholeplants, from EUR 1.93/USD 2.6 (Crocus niveus)to EUR 20.46/USD 27.60 (Ophrys kotschyi H.Fleischm. & Soó ssp. cretica [Soó] H. Sund.)(Table 2, ESM 2).The top-10 taxa on a price basis are

primarily bulbous. They are Ophrys kotscyi ssp.c r e t i c a , Cy c l amen rhod ium, Be l l e va l i abrevipedicellata Turrill (endangered), Thlaspibulbosum (rare), Crocus goulimyi (vulnerable),Colchicum asteranthum Vassiliades & K. M.Perss. (vulnerable), Colchicum parnassicum (nearthrea tened) , Draba c r e t i ca , Cera s t iumcandidissimum and Abies cephalonica (ESM 1,2). Prices for the group of threatened/protectedtaxa were not significantly higher (p >0.05) thanfor the group of other taxa (Table 2).

THREATENED, PROTECTED AND RARE TAXA

Of the 145 endemic taxa of Greece tracedin the nurseries’ webpages, 58 are protected atthe national and 19 at the international level.Four of the traded taxa (Cyclamen creticumHildebr., Cyclamen rhodium [syn. Cyclamenrepandum ssp. rhodense], Galanthus ikariae, andOphrys kotchyi ssp. cretica [syn. Ophrys cretica])are included in the CITES list. Another four(Origanum dictamnus, Paeonia clusii Stern ssp.rhodia [Stern] Tzanoudakis, Paeonia parnassicaTzanoudakis and Zelkova abelicea) are protectedby the Annex II of the EU Directive 92/43/EEC. Sixteen taxa are covered by the BernConvention (ESM 1).There is evidence of trade for many taxa

facing risk of extinction (ESM 1, Fig. 3).Among these, there are 6 endangered, 27vulnerable, 32 rare, and 5 near threatened; onlycritically endangered taxa are not included.Thirty taxa are steno-endemics, confined in onlyone (12 taxa), two (3 taxa), or three to fivelocalities (15 taxa) in Greece. There is evidenceof current trade for representatives of all theabove IUCN categories, more specifically fortwo endangered taxa (Bellevalia brevipedicellataand Fritillaria conica Boiss.), 15 vulnerable, 18rare, and 3 near threatened (ESM 1). Of the 14most traded taxa, i.e., those found in the lists ofmore than 10 nurseries, half are included in the

Fig. 2. Number of Greek endemic taxa that arecurrently for sale in the seven countries examined andnumber of nurseries selling them in each one.

90 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 68

Red Data Books of Greece (Phitos et al. 1995,2009).

COMPLIANCE OF THE ACTIVITY WITH NATIONAL

LAWS AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES

Some nurseries (e.g., www.rareplants.de/shop[31 October 2012]) note that “all material tradeddescends exclusively from propagated plants.”However, they hardly ever provide informationon the provenance of the original plant materialused for propagation. They also say that they are“not selling any material collected from the wild”or assure that they “strictly refrain from offeringsuch material in order to protect several endan-gered taxa and in order to comply with nationaland international laws on the trade of protectedplants and parts thereof such as seeds.” In severalcases, such claims are not evident from otherinformation provided or can even be contradictedby it. For instance, it is claimed that all materialderives from artificial propagation at the websitewww.rareplants.de/shop. However, it is noted “exKefallinia, Greece” (http://www.rareplants.de/shop/search.asp?strKeywords=bellevalia [30 Au-gust 2013]) for the Greek endemic Bellevaliahyacinthoides (Bertol.) K. Perss. & Wendelbo,suggesting that it originates from wild popula-

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

CR EN VU R NT

Num

ber

of t

axa

trad

edIUCN extinction risk status

Nationally

Globally

Fig. 3. Extinction risk status of the Greek endemictaxa traded over the Internet after their assessment atnational (Phitos et al. 1995, 2009) or global scale(Walter and Gillett 1998); CR: Critically Endangered;EN: Endangered; VU: Vulnerable; R: Rare; NT: NearThreatened.

Table2.

AVERAGEPR

ICE(±

SD)IN

EUROSAND

U.S.D

OLL

ARS(RATEASOF11

NOVEMBER20

13)PE

RTYPE

OFPL

ANTMATERIALAVAILABLE

FORTHEGREEKENDEMIC

TAXA

TRADED

OVERTHEIN

TERNETAND,S

EPA

RATELY

,FORTHEGROUPS

OFTHETHREATENED/PROTECTED

AND

THENOTASSESSED/N

OTPR

OTECTED

TAXA.F

ORIN

DIVID

UAL

PRIC

ESPE

RTAXON

AND

MATERIALTYPE

,SE

EELE

CTRONIC

SUPP

LEMENTARYMATERIAL2.

Plantstatus

Average

pricein

Euros

andUSD

(inparentheses)pertype

ofplantmaterial

Singleseed

Seed

package

Seed

weight(g)

Bulb

Living

plant

Alltraded

taxa

0.24

±0.24

(0.32±0.32

)n=17

6.25

±2.64

(8.43±3.57

)n=14

18.86±12

.06(25.44

±16

.27)

n=12

2.48

±2.43

(3.35±3.27

)n=11

6.38

±3.23

(8.61±4.35

)n=66

Threatened/

protected

0.38

±0.34

(0.51±0.45

)n=6

5.44

±1.06

(7.34±1.43

)n=8

17.13±8.44

(23.11

±11

.39)

n=4

1.79

±2.05

(2.41±2.76

)n=8

6.77

±3.52

(9.13±4.75

)n=37

Not

assessed/

notprotected

0.16

±0.07

(0.22±0.09

)n=11

7.33

±3.27

(9.89±4.41

)n=6

19.72±13

.61(26.60

±18

.36)

n=8

1.30

±0.68

(1.75±0.92

)n=3

5.88

±2.72

(7.93±3.67

)n=29

91NIKOS ET AL.: ELECTRONIC TRADE IN GREEK ENDEMIC PLANTS2014]

tions. The same website asserts that they do notissue any phytosanitary health certificate nor anyCITES certificate for possibly protected plants,because “it is the buyer’s responsibility to check forany possible import restrictions in his country.”(http://www.rareplants.de/shop/prodtype.a s p ? s t r P a r e n t s = & C A T _ I D =94376016&numRecordPosition=1 [30 August2013]). Also, some nurseries inform the customerthat there is a “want list” (e.g., http://b-and-t-world-seeds.com/sublists.asp [30 August 2013]) ora “wish list” for desired seeds (http://www.cgf.net/Wishlist. aspx?id=12&hid=12 [30 August 2013]),but it is not clear if desires will be satisfiedfrom artificial propagation or through businesspartners who will collect the plant or itspropagules from the wild.When provenance of plant material is clearly

indicated, the following cases can be discerned:material originating (a) from the nurseries’ ownstocks or from those of collaborating nurseries( for example, www.rareplants.de/shop/,www.rareplants.co.uk, www.davesgarden.com,www.tilebarn-cyclamen.co.uk), (b) from ex situconservation units, i.e., plants kept in botanicgardens (for example, www.rareplants.co.uk), and(c) directly from wild populations (for example,www.beechesnursery.co/uk, www.cgf.net, www.hillkeep.ca, www.srgc.org.uk, www.rareplants.de/shop).

DiscussionThis is the first survey of the Greek endemic

plants traded worldwide via the Internet. Itpresents a great deal of the activity but illustratesonly a fraction of the real market, as it wasimpossible for us to search the entire World WideWeb. The earliest year of electronic commerce ofthese plants is 1997. Taxa detected in thenurseries’ webpages have not been continuallytraded, but this does not seem to be related withthe taxon’s general availability. Biarum davisii ssp.davisii, Fritillaria ehrhartii Boiss. & Orph.,Sideritis syriaca L. ssp. syriaca, Thlaspi bulbosum,and Verbascum arcturus L. are examples of taxawith active trade status in some nurseries andinactive in others (ESM 1). For the majority ofinitially identified cases (57.5%), commercialactivity could not be confirmed at the nurseries’webpages as currently taking place (ESM 1). Thismay be because the nurseries’ webpages are notregularly updated. Nonetheless, this may alsoimply that a network of collaborating collectors

exist in the background but are only activatedupon request. If true, this would also explain the“want” or “wish list” service offered by some ofthe nurseries.We found evidence of electronic trade for 145

taxa, corresponding to more than 10% of theGreek endemic flora. Of these, 33 taxa aredesignated as endangered or vulnerable, andanother 37 taxa are designated as near threatenedor rare. Included are plants with recognizedornamental value, such as succulents, aroids,bulbs, bellflowers, and also aromatic perennials.It seems that there is a high potential and/ordemand for Greek Campanula, Fritillaria, andCrocus; these genera are represented in the marketby more than ten taxa each. Nevertheless, it is thelarge-flowered Erodium chrysanthum, designatedas vulnerable, that is found in the webpages of70% of the nurseries involved in this trade.It is not possible to know the quantities that

were available for sale or those that were actuallysold per taxon, as such information is notprovided in the nurseries’ websites that wesurveyed. In consequence, we could not estimatethe real profits from this trade. In the absence ofany relevant information, we attempt an estima-tion of the overall annual returns on the basis ofthe nurseries’ catalogue entries. More specifically,this estimation has been made after the Greekendemic taxa that are currently traded fromeach nursery, the different items per taxon thatare available for sale for each nursery and theirprices. Assuming that 100 (for small tomedium-size nurseries) to 1,000 units (for largeones) of the items of interest in the nurseries’catalogues are purchased annually, a cash yearlyincome of EUR 120,130/USD 162,055 toEUR 1,180,000/USD 1,591,820, respectively,can be estimated.As our searches showed, most vendors of

the Greek endemics are located in the U.K.,France, and U.S. This may reflect the longhorticultural tradition and/or the robustnessof the ornamental plant industry of thesecountries. But it can be also associated withthe prominent ex situ conservation of Greekendemics in their botanic gardens (especially ofthe U.K.), as recent research showed (Menteli etal. 2012).Classification of species to extinction risk

categories has been criticized as inadvertentlypromoting illegal trade of plants by advertisingtheir rarity (Alacs and Georges 2008). In the

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black market for wildlife, demand is driven byrarity, so that when a species becomes scarce, itsmarket value escalates, making it even moreattractive to collectors, despite the greater effortrequired to collect specimens (Courchamp et al.2006). Results of our study do not support thispattern; prices for the group of protected/threat-ened taxa were not found to differ from those ofother taxa.

Some of the nurseries involved in the business areclearly against the Convention on Biological Diver-sity. Using extreme language, one calls it “a cretinousand self-defeating exercise in bureaucratic mumbojumbo” (pp. 50–51, http://www.evolution-plants.com/pdf/evolution%20brochure_WEB.pdf[30 August 2013]). Recognizing major flaws in it,they describe it as “philosophically absurd” (sincegenes cannot be owned by countries), “counterpro-ductive” (since restrictions and bureaucracy reduceincentives to individuals, companies, and organiza-tions to freely conserve organisms ex situ), and“unworkable” (because often there exists no mech-anism for applying and habitually no agency towhich one can apply). Whatever their opinions,these nurseries cannot violate national laws of thecountries from which plant material has originated,nor international treaties signed by the countries oforigin but possibly not by their own.

Given the quality of information provided bythe large majority of nurseries regarding the originof the material that they sell, we cannot estimatethe degree to which this commerce is illegal. Toour knowledge, no case of illegal export of Greekspecimens has been detected by the GreekCustoms Office, and no prosecutions are known.Also, there is no report of illegal exportation ofsuch plant material from Greece at the CITESwebsite (www.cites.org). However, the fact thatnone of the nurseries involved in this electronictrade explicitly states that permission was grantedby the authorities of Greece for the exploitationof its endemic plants is a sign of an unauthorizedendeavor. This is also supported to a certainextent by the fact that on the CITES Internetpage there is no information either on the legalexportation of these plants from the country.

It is difficult to assess the direct impacts of thistrade on the wild populations of plant species.Nonetheless, it is known that at least 30% of theassessed as rare and threatened plants of Greece (n= 473) suffer from uncontrolled collection andharvesting (Bandi et al. 2012; Phitos et al. 1995,2009). If plants find medicinal or other uses, risks

may be very high. This seems to be the case forSideritis spp. and Gentiana spp. which areoverharvested, especially at the borderline moun-tains of the country (Krigas, pers. obs.), or somewild orchids like Orchis spp., which areoverharvested from the wild and illegally tradedat local scale, since their dried tubers areconsumed widely as a hot beverage called “salepi”(also known as “salep” in Turkey). Other rareorchid taxa that are spotted in springtime duringguided tours of tourists interested in the Greekflora are found uprooted later (Saliaris, pers.comm.); they most probably end up in backyardgardens, the personal collections of hobbyists andplant hunters, or in nurseries for trade. Thismight be the case of the protected plant Ophryskotschyi ssp. cretica traded over the Internet atsuch a high price (EUR 20.46/USD 27.60 perliving individual). The reduction of propagulesassociated with collection of plants from the wildmay become alarming due to serious demograph-ic consequences that this may have for theharvested population (Flores-Palacios and Valen-cia-Diaz 2007). This could put steno-endemictaxa that are found in a few localities, even in oneor only two, at a very high risk.

Severe penalties and tough fines have beensuggested as a means to deter engagement inwildlife trafficking. In fact, such penalties andfines have been issued in a few cases of illegaltrade of the wild flora, primarily in the U.K., andalso in the U.S. and Australia (Alacs and Georges2008). Surveillance of markets, effective manage-ment strategies of sustainable use of wildresources, artificial propagation of species withlow population density, and assessment of theimpacts of illegal collections are consideredactions that can contribute to controlling illegaltrade and/or alleviating its adverse effects on wildplant populations (Flores-Palacios and Valencia-Diaz 2007). Greece has not engaged in routinesurveillance of the Internet to detect illegal tradeof its endemic plants, and the same seems toapply for many other countries. Even in countrieslike Australia, where this does not hold true, suchsurveillance is typically undertaken only insupport of specific cases that have alreadycome to the attention of authorities (Alacsand Georges 2008).

ConclusionOur study revealed that uncontrolled e-com-

merce of Greek endemic plants is conducted over

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the Internet, involving at least 145 taxa, amongwhich 33 are designated as endangered orvulnerable and 37 as near threatened or rare.There is no reason not to expect a similarsituation for the endemic plants of other coun-tries. The absence of serious efforts to survey andcontrol the electronic trade of wild, protected,and threatened flora, combined with the delayeddevelopment of a legal framework for the effectiveimplementation of the CBD provision for fairand equitable sharing of benefits arising out of theutilization of genetic resources, may explain whythis questionably legal activity is conducted insuch a conspicuous manner.Plant trafficking via the World Wide Web

is not a one-country issue. It is a global issueof unknown dimensions. To curb illegalelectronic commerce, our conservation recom-mendations are the following: regular surveil-lance of popular Internet sites and demandingthat nurseries selling through Internet declarethat the plant material sold is not of wildorigin and has been legally obtained. Stateauthorities should take action to protectbiodiversity, but also exert the rights derivingfrom national laws and international treatiesregarding the exploitation of their countries’genetic resources.

AcknowledgmentsThis research is supported by a grant from the

Ministry of Environment, Energy, and ClimateChange of Greece (Scientific Support for theManagement and Protection of Species andHabitats of the Natura 2000 Network, No49899/27.09.2010). We thank P. Saliaris, ama-teur botanist and ecoguide, for providing infor-mation on collection and trade of wild orchids.Electronic Supplementary Material 1 and 2 areavailable online.

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