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Question about S. oreophila "open pollinated" seed

DJ57

I am a CPaholic...
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I have lots of S. oreophila seed from an "open pollinated" plant, meaning they could be self-pollinated or hybrid seed as the plant grows in close proximity to other sarracenia varieties that flowered at the same time. I would like to distribute this seed so it does not go to waste. My question is can potentially hybrid seed (open pollinated) from S. oreophila be legally shipped across state lines or would they still fall under the endangered species act laws?
 
Hi, Djoni --

I assume that the seed would be treated the same as an S. oreophila plant in the eyes of the EPA, USFWS, et al.

I'm not an attorney (nor do I play one on TF), but my understanding of the Act is that it prohibits interstate commerce, so if you can legally gift a legally-acquired endangered species across state lines, you should be able to do likewise with its seeds. I looked up a useful summary of the Act on the EPAs' website, which I reproduce in part below:

"The law also prohibits any action that causes a "taking" of any listed species of endangered fish or wildlife. Likewise, import, export, interstate, and foreign commerce of listed species are all generally prohibited."
http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-endangered-species-act


Welcome confirmation from someone more knowledgeable.

Jay
 
Hybrids are exempted from CITES and the ESA. The grey area here is that the plants were open pollinated and there exists the possibility that of pure species. ESA prohibits the interstate transport of endangered species for commercial purposes. Commerce is the exchange of money, goods or services (buying, selling, trade/bartering/swaps). So if you are just giving them away in the US no problem. Postage is a grey area. Depending on who to speak to at the Fish and Wildlife Services you'll get different answers. My interpretation is taking money for postage is still commerce.

Shipping them internationally you have to apply CITES requirements.
 
Thanx for the input.

I thought as much, gray area, but wanted to make sure. Always better safe than sorry. So, my understanding is if I pay postage in a giveaway I can ship them out of state, so when funds are available I will post them up for grabs and pay shipping. It is hard for me not to harvest fat healthy seed pods, harder to throw them away, so unless I want to do some intentional hybridizing at some point I will cut developing flower stalks on the S. oreophila as I would rather have energy going to pitcher production anyway.
 
My understanding is also that if propagules are sent 100% gratis, applying also to shipping costs, it is legal.
 
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