This week The Huntington in San Marino joined an international coalition of botanical gardens dedicated to fighting the black market for plants.

Succulent thieves

Orchids and succulents are some of the most illegally harvested plants around the world. Sometimes hundreds of plants are harvested in the wild, wiping out whole populations. Many consumers unwittingly buy the illegally harvested plants, adding to the demand in a global illicit trade.

“We’re actually seeing extinction of plants because of this. I mean, it’s happening,” Nicole Cavender, director of botanical gardens at The Huntington, told LAist. Cavender spoke from the the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where this week the Illegal Plant Trade Coali

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