I visited a succulent-grower after work today and I bought one or two plants but left with an armload. This grower likes to frequent traditional herb markets and buy bulbs and caudiciforms because many of them are used medicinally although he repots them and sells them again. This is a practice that leaves me feeling very ambivalent. While it is illegal to collect plants from the wild to prevent stripping of plants from their habitats, herbalists may collect and sell medicinal herbs for traditional use and there are a couple of herb markets around. Although the grower I know rationalises buying from the herbalists by saying that he is 'saving' the plants, the fact that people buy them encourages herbalists to go and collect more. It is also true that many of these plants do not survive being transplanted. So although I didn't go there with the intention of buying wild-collected plants or pay for any of them, that is what I got.
The large brown root-like shape is a Dioscorea and it belongs to the yam family, and is a natural source of cortisone. These are being overharvested from the wild. Of the bulbs, 3 are Ledebouria, one is a Scilla and there is also a large caudiciform Euphorbia. None of these are endangered in any way.
Not all of the plants I was given are medicinal or wild-collected, the long grey stems are Wild Grapes or Cyphostemma and the two tiny little cactus-like objects are small Euphorbia and and I know that these were grown by him or bought from others who grew them.
All of this leaves me with a dilemma: not to buy plants from him again in order to avoid being given illegally collected plants or just turn a blind eye and give the plants a chance to grow again. What would you do?