[PCA] NEWS: Why would someone steal the world’s rarest water lily?

[Kwong, Olivia]

This article is about a plant theft in the UK, but it is a global issue for
rare plants.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/oct/28/-sp-plant-crime-of-the-century

Why would someone steal the world’s rarest water lily?
In January, an endangered plant was taken from Kew Gardens – only a few
years after scientists saved it from extinction. Sam Knight investigates
what happens when plant obsession turns criminal.
By  Sam Knight
Tuesday 28 October 2014 02.00 EDT

The Princess of Wales Conservatory is what staff at Kew Gardens call a
honeypot. The world’s largest and most prestigious botanical garden, Kew
receives 2 million visitors each year, and a huge proportion of these,
perhaps 30,000 a week, make sure they see the conservatory, a large
armadillo-like structure near the eastern gates. Built in 1986, the
glasshouse has climate controls that allow it to contain 10 plant habitats
under a single roof. In the space of a few minutes, visitors can examine
ghostly, egg-shaped cacti in the desert cool; tumbling red Passiflora in
the heat of the forest; and the fibrous mangroves of a swamp. On any given
morning, squads of children, dressed in yellow high-visibility jackets,
trek among the lurid, flowering bromeliads and tropical leaves the size of
pillowcases, and squeal at beetles that skitter out on to the walkway.

See the link above for the full article text.
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