Biology Now, 2e

The Dirt on Black-Market Plants ■ 293

Gymnosperms produce “naked” seeds that sit

bare, unwrapped in any additional layers, on the

modified leaf (the scale in a pine cone). In angio-

sperms, the modified leaf evolved into the ovary

wall, which consists of tissue layers that enclose and

protect the egg-bearing structures, or ovules. After

fertilization, the ovules develop into seeds, and the

ovary wall that enclosed them becomes the fruit wall.

At the Thailand plant markets, Phelps had trou-

ble identifying orchid species until they flowered,

so he went back again and again—four times per

year to four different markets—looking for newly

opened flowers, listing species he recognized,

taking photos of others, and even occasionally

asking for a flower off a plant he did not recognize,

which he quickly stored in a vial of alcohol to take

back for identification. In the end, Phelps gath-

ered evidence of 348 orchid species in 93 genera,

representing 13–22 percent of the area’s known

orchid flora, and tens of thousands of individual

plants, including several new species.

Phelps’s results were shockingly different

from those published in preexisting government

reports on plant trades among Thailand, Laos,

and Myanmar. The Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and

Flora, or CITES, is an international treaty of over

175 countries that monitors and reg ulates interna-

tional trade of plants and animals. Member coun-

tries are required to produce permits for wildlife

trade of species protected under the agreement,

including all wild orchids. These permits are used

to guarantee that plants are legally harvested in

a sustainable way that does not endanger either

the species or the environment. “CITES is about

conservation and sustainable use,” says Anne St.

John, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service’s Division of Management Authority,

which implements CITES in the United States.

“The goal is to ensure that these species are

around for our grandchildren. That includes not

only tigers and elephants, but also bigleaf mahog-

any and Brazilian rosewood.”

And the orchids of Southeast Asia. Over nine

years, Laos reported permits for the export of just

20 wild-collected orchids into Thailand; Myan-

mar reported none. Yet during just one day with

a single market trader at the border between

Laos and Thailand, Phelps documented that the

woman sold at least 168 plants of eight different

genera. In just one day, she sold eight times more

plants than the government reported as sold over

9 years. “It’s totally anecdotal, but incredibly illus-

trative of the problem,” says Phelps. “This trade is

completely unacknowledged. It’s an open secret.”

Other countries are working hard to crack

down on the plant black market. American

ginseng, a short leafy plant with a tan, gnarled

root commonly used in Chinese herbal medi-

cine, is the largest CITES-regulated plant export

of the United States (Figure 16.8). A pound of

quality, dried ginseng can sell for up to $900,

so some people try to bypass CITES permits,

harvesting plants that are too young (legally

Figure 16.8

Ginseng plants carpet a forest floor

After pollination, the ginseng flowers develop a bright-red seed head

that helps ginseng hunters (inset) find it in the filtered light of the forest.

Q1: What feature(s) of the ginseng plant tell you that it is not a

bryophyte?

Q2: What feature(s) of the ginseng plant tell you that it is not a

fern or gymnosperm?

Q3: Because of the CITES classification of ginseng, you are not

allowed to sell plants younger than 5 years even if they grew on your

own land. Do you agree with that law? Why or why not?