South Africa's 'super-strange looking' plants being poached

A biodiversity hotspot, Kamieskroon, in SouthAfrica surrounded by protected plant species has turned into the illegal trade of these plants. Organised groups were reported engaged in smuggling the rare species plants to fulfil their oversee demands, BBC reported.

A livestock farmer expressed her dismay at the social and ecological crisis to BBC saying, "They've not just stolen our land or our plants, they've stolen our heritage as well."

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Most of the plants there are subject to illegal tradingare a a variety known as succulents, named for their ability to hold water and survive in arid climates, BBC reported. Many of these species are found in the Succulent Karoo desert (Spans across South Africa and Namibia).

Succulent species are found in varied sizes, shapes and colours and some of them look like small multi-coloured buttons while some look like cacti. They sprout flowers of various colours at a fixed time of the year.

Although these plants can be cultivated in nurseries, the increasing global demand has resulted in the poaching of these plants further getting smuggled and sold online to buyers across the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Pieter van Wyk, a nursery curator, told BBC, "In South Africa, weknow already of seven species that have been wiped out completely and there are certainly more species that will go extinct very soon."

It is not yet clear the number of plants being poached but as per some unofficial reports, around 1.6 million illegally harvested succulents were seized by South Africa's law enforcement agencies between 2019 and 2024.

(With inputs from agencies)