TSUKUBU: Botanical gardens nationwide are facing a string of rare plant thefts despite the growing installation of security cameras. Preventing such crimes across the vast grounds of these facilities remains difficult, prompting experts to warn that the losses could jeopardise efforts to conserve and study rare species.
“The plants were just about to sprout, and our staff and visitors alike were looking forward to seeing them bloom,” sighed an official at Hakuba Goryu Alpine Botanical Garden in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, which exhibits 300 types of alpine plants.
In early June, the garden discovered the theft of three Rebun atsumoriso (Rebun lady’s slipper) plants, an orchid species listed as near-threatened.
This rare species grows wild only on Rebun Island in Hokkaido and is classified as a designated nationally endangered species of wild fauna and flora under the Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Law.
Because the species is sensitive to heat and notoriously difficult to cultivate, the garden had been growing it in a dedicated section for rare plants.
Evidence suggested that the plants had been dug up using some kind of tool and were taken away with their roots intact. The Nagano Prefectural Police have launched a theft investigation.
The garden is considering installing security cameras.
“It is regrettable because we raised them with care. We plan to strengthen measures,” an official from the garden’s operating company said.
About 10 cases of plant theft are reported annually at the Kyoto Botanical Garden in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, with stolen items including orchids from greenhouses and Welwitschia, a gymnosperm found in African deserts.
Although five security cameras have been installed at greenhouse entrances and other locations, the garden said it is impossible to fully monitor the grounds, which span a total of 24 hectares.
At the Tsukuba Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Asarum asaroides, an evergreen perennial native to Japan, was stolen from a greenhouse in 2022.
In 2018, Amorphophallus titanum, an endangered species with one of the largest flowers in the world, was stolen from another greenhouse at the botanical garden.
“Plants in a botanical garden are the same as museum collections. We want people to know that each plant is collected with meaning,” said an official at the garden.
When asked why botanical gardens remain targets for theft, Tomohisa Yukawa, vice-president of the Japan Association of Botanical Gardens, explained that the grounds replicate natural mountainous and forested areas. As a result, some visitors take plants as casually as if they were gathering wild vegetables or acorns.
In cases involving rare plants, thefts by enthusiasts are particularly common.
“When people cultivate plants, they may naturally want to keep rare species for themselves,” Yukawa said.
In some cases, plants are stolen from botanical gardens with the intention of reselling them. At Tsukuba Botanical Garden, where Yukawa also serves as director, more than 10 pots of endangered orchids and other plants were previously stolen and put up for auction online.
The unauthorised collection or sale of plants designated by the Environment Ministry as rare domestic species, including Rebun atsumoriso, could violate the Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Law.
In March last year, the Saitama Prefectural Police sent papers to prosecutors regarding two men suspected of violating the law by illegally trading an endangered fern, Phlegmariurus salvinioides.
In September 2023, the Metropolitan Police Department sent papers to prosecutors on suspicion that two men had violated the law by selling Polystichum neolobatum, another endangered fern, without authorisation.
“If valuable plants that exist only as a few stocks in the wild are stolen, a large part of genetic diversity will be lost, which is a serious problem,” said University of Tokyo professor Atsushi Kawakita, who specialises in plant ecology.
“Although installing security cameras throughout an entire garden would affect a pleasant viewing experience, botanical gardens are required to take further self-defence measures, such as installing them in display locations of rare species,” he said.
Concerns over rare plant thefts have also put organisers of the International Horticultural Expo, which opens in March next year in Yokohama, on high alert.
The expo will display 10 million plants, including rare species, and is expected to draw 10 million visitors.
Along with installing security cameras and having guards patrol the venue, organisers will introduce state-of-the-art equipment for baggage checks at entrances.
The measures are designed to prevent visitors from bringing in items such as pruning shears. Prior permission will be required to bring gardening tools into the venue.
“Maintaining security over such a vast area is no easy task, but we want to establish a thorough system,” said the head of the safety measures section at the Japan Association for the International Horticultural Expo 2027, Yokohama, which is organising the event.
