Illegally collected Himalayan plant seeds sold in UK

Gentiana is a favourite among collectors

Seeds of exotic plants illegally collected in the Himalayas are being sold in the UK, the BBC has found. National Himalayan authorities say no permission was obtained to gather and export the plant material.

The activity harms the environment and deprives local people of benefits from the trade of plants, they add.

Some of the suppliers told the BBC that locals had actually helped them collect the flowers; others said they did not know their activities were illegal. Experts say horticulture societies and clubs across the UK have long raised questions about such practice.

Permits are required both to collect and to export plant seeds

 "When people are flouting the regulations then that impacts us - because the host countries get more cautious about things, and we are helping them develop the protocols for ethical sharing of plant materials and the benefits," said Mark Watson of the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh.

The Rhododendron, Camillia and Magnolia Group (RCMG), a UK gardening organisation associated with the Royal Horticultural Society, has admitted that one of its collectors did not have permission.


The group's chairman, David Millais, wrote to the authorities in India's Sikkim state, saying: "We have been informed directly by Timothy Atkinson (one of the seed collectors for the group) that he did in fact not have permission to collect seed in Sikkim in 2012 and 2013, which is deeply regrettable.

"He does, however, confirm… that he acted in innocence, unaware he was in violation of local regulations and for which he appears genuinely remorseful." Mr Mallais wrote to the Sikkim authorities after our investigation prompted the latter to launch an inquiry.

Mr Atkinson's name appeared in the RCMG listings for nearly 250 collections of different varieties of plant seeds in Sikkim and West Bengal states of India. Some collections even took place in wildlife reserves and sanctuaries.

"Collection of plant specimens is strictly prohibited from wildlife protected areas under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and even from the other reserved forest areas," said Thomas Chandy, principal secretary with Sikkim's department of forests, in a written response.

The 2015 offer list of the RCMG had nearly 850 collections of plant seeds with more than half of them sourced from the Himalayas, including in India, China and Myanmar. The group later wrote to its members to inform them that all wild-collected seeds were being removed from the website.

Ray Brown is the proprietor of another supplier, Plant World Seeds, which put some of Himalayan seeds on its website. Mr Brown refused to comment when asked if he had obtained permits for the seeds' collection.

He was in a team that went to Nepal and collected nearly 60 plant seed varieties in just one trip in 2014. In a write-up where he has listed all the seeds collected, Mr Brown wrote: "Every one of you will receive a few seeds of this treasure, and also the Meconopsis and Rheum noted above."