Roy Lancaster

In 1988, British plant explorer Roy Lancaster revealed that a thriving black market for plants was threatening rare Chinese orchids.

In the same way, an art collector might buy stolen works of art underground; elite plant collectors are the wealthy clients of orchid smugglers. Lancaster shared the plight of Paphiopedilum armeniacum, which was discovered in 1980 but was 100 percent harvested from the world in 1983.
In just three short years, the plant had gone from discovery to presumed extinction!