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Is that rare plant illegal?

<span>Photograph: Chris Mattison/Alamy</span>
Photograph: Chris Mattison/Alamy

Social media has done incredible things for gardening, opening up an astonishing diversity of clever techniques and innovative styles from around the globe. As with all democratisations of culture, this revolution has also allowed more problematic practices to flourish. The anonymity and reach of these platforms has seen a plethora of wild-collected, sometimes incredibly endangered, plants flooding social feeds and auction sites. How can we combat this?

Most non-specialists would assume that in order to find these specimens, you would need to delve deep into the dark web and the underground criminal world that’s home to the likes of weapon and drug dealers. This is not the case. I see obviously trafficked plants almost every day on popular internet auction sites.

These plants are often sandwiched between legitimate listings, so that it is possible for consumers to buy illegally traded plants completely unawares. But there are some clear warning signs, if you know what to look for.

Plants grown in nursery “captivity” will be cosseted, meaning perfectly symmetrical growth, an upright habit, and zero damage from pests or diseases; in other words, an incredibly standardised, “showroom-new” look. But wild-collected plants have a contorted, asymmetrical character that being grown in a harsher environment gives – which is precisely why they are considered so valuable; and this is a sign that you may be viewing something illegal.

Trafficked specimens are very unlikely to survive at home – the vast majority will die within weeks. If you want character, plant your nursery-purchase at an angle, position its branches with a little bonsai wire, and you’ll get these wonderful wild shapes in only a few months.

Another tell-tale sign of trafficking is photos that show examples of the plant growing in the wild, sometimes with the freshly dug-up specimens in the same shot. This can be a sort of code to indicate to unscrupulous buyers the real origin of the material without using the key words that flag them up to search engines.

Location can be a dead giveaway. If your seller is located in China or Thailand, but doesn’t clearly mention the necessity of purchasing the official (and expensive) certification imported plants need, do not make a purchase.

However, in my opinion, the most important change we could make is to hold tech companies to account. When we talk about wildlife crime, we tend to focus only on things such as ivory and rhino horn. This gives the impression that it is a problem confined to the animal kingdom. Indeed, if you report a post for illegal trade on Facebook or Instagram, there is currently only an option to click “trade in animals”, as if the illegal plant trade doesn’t exist or matter. Adding a new tick box could be an enormous help to threatened species.

Saving the planet can seem like an insurmountable task, but sometimes it’s as simple as ticking a box. Or writing the code so there’s a box to tick.

Follow James on Twitter @Botanygeek