But plants are also at risk of theft. Illegal trade in exotic plants like Venus flytraps and barrel cacti has spawned a plant poaching problem in national parks and other natural wildland areas. Rare plants can command a high price on the black market, and the sellers know how to supply the demand for exotic species.
Poachers dig up the plants from parks and wildland areas.
The plants are then resold to collectors and dealers. The back of a minivan can easily hold a small fortune of poached plants. The Internet has extended the reach of the black market to different continents, and many additional species are now targeted for poaching. The problem has grown to such proportions that certain species may be wiped out of their natural habitat. Ginseng root has become a threatened species in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in North Carolina.