Buying and planting a rare or federally listed native plant: what the lists mean and what the law allows
Which lists protect a rare native plant and how, when a federally listed one may cross state lines, what to ask a nursery, and how much wild seed to take.
On this page
What the federal listing bars for a plantThe listed plants we grow, and why they ship only in stateState lists and rarity ranksNursery-propagated or dug from the wildTaking seed from a wild plantPlanting a listed plant at homeWhere to startCommon questionsSourcesThe Endangered Species Act does not bar growing a federally listed plant in a yard, nor buying one from a seller in your own state. For a plant, it bars import and export, removal from land under federal jurisdiction, and sale or commercial shipment across state lines without a permit. State laws add their own rules, such as a ban on digging a listed plant from someone else’s land without permission. Rarity ranks carry no legal force. Buy a plant propagated in a nursery, and take wild seed only with permission.
What the federal listing bars for a plant
An endangered species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and a threatened one is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. Without a permit, the Act bars these acts for an endangered plant:
- Importing or exporting it.
- Removing it from land under federal jurisdiction, or maliciously damaging it there.
- Digging it up elsewhere in knowing violation of a state law, or during a criminal trespass under state law.
- Selling it across state lines, or shipping it across them in trade.
The bars reach its seeds too. An endangered animal is protected from being taken anywhere in the country, but a plant’s protection is narrower:
“Sometimes the threats facing a rare plant occur primarily on non-federal lands, where the Endangered Species Act provides only limited conservation authority for plants.” (USDA Forest Service, How Are Rare Plants Conserved?)
Possession of a listed plant is not itself a violation. A threatened plant listed on or before August 20, 2026 carries the same bars unless a rule for that species says otherwise. One listed later carries only what a rule written for it names. Seeds of a cultivated threatened plant are exempt if labeled as of cultivated origin.
The listed plants we grow, and why they ship only in state
The federally listed plants we grow, and where each grows in the wild:
| Plant | Federal listing | Grows wild on | Zones |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapman’s rhododendron | Endangered | Wet pine flatwood edges | 7–9 |
| Cumberland rosemary | Threatened | River gravel and sand bars | 5–9 |
| Florida torreya | Endangered | Shaded limestone ravines | 5–9 |
| Four-petal pawpaw | Endangered | Scrub on old coastal dunes | 9–10 |
| Miccosukee gooseberry | Threatened | Shaded hardwood slopes over limestone | 7–9 |
| Michaux’s sumac | Endangered | Sandy, rocky open woods | 5–8 |
| Pondberry | Endangered | Seasonally flooded woods, pond margins | 7–9 |
| Pygmy fringetree | Endangered | Fire-kept scrub on deep sand | 6–10 |
| Scrub plum | Endangered | Fire-kept scrub and sandhills | 9–10 |
| Virginia spiraea | Threatened | Flood-scoured stream banks | 4–8 |
For each endangered plant in the table, saplings and seed are shipped only in state and otherwise pickup only. For each threatened one, saplings are shipped only in state and otherwise pickup only. That is because the Act does not prohibit commerce in legally acquired listed plants that takes place entirely within one state. Blue Whale Trees grows the saplings of every plant in the table from seed. Border quarantines are a separate matter, set out in state plant rules.
State lists and rarity ranks
States keep their own lists of endangered and threatened plants, and each state’s law decides what a listing does. Florida’s and Ohio’s lists take in every federally listed plant native there. Before you dig, sell or move a listed plant, ask your own state’s agency what its law allows.
Four eastern states, in alphabetical order:
| State | To dig one on land not your own | To sell one |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | The landowner’s written permission, and a permit for an endangered one | Licensed nurseries may sell plants they propagate |
| New York | The owner’s consent | Not addressed in Section 9-1503, which regulates ginseng sales |
| North Carolina | The owner’s written permit, good up to 180 days | Only as the state’s rules allow |
| Ohio | The owner’s written permission | Licensed nurseries may sell plants grown under cultivation |
Rarity ranks are a third thing. A G-rank grades a species worldwide from 1, critically imperiled, to 5, secure, and an S-rank grades it within one state. Neither carries legal status, and why native trees become rare covers what drives a species down.
Nursery-propagated or dug from the wild
On national forests, poaching of native wildflowers is rising, endangered species among them, and in some cases whole populations have been stolen. Most dug wildflowers do not survive being transplanted. A plant sold as “nursery grown” may have been dug wild and potted, while a “nursery propagated” one was raised from seed or cuttings. Florida’s inspectors watch for listed plants that turn up suddenly at a nursery already mature, and may request proof of where and how they were obtained.
Before you buy, ask the seller:
- Was it propagated from seed or cuttings, or dug from the wild?
- Where did its parent plants grow? Stock from your own region generally suits your ground best, and a nursery listing seldom says.
- Was the seed taken with the landowner’s permission and any permit the species needs?
Taking seed from a wild plant
Wild seed takes the landowner’s permission, and on public land the managing agency’s. A listed species may also need state and federal permits, which can take six months to a year. For a rare plant, the Center for Plant Conservation’s limit is 10 percent of a population’s seed, or of one plant’s, in a season. The figure rests on 2004 modeling of 25 populations of 22 species:
“Frequent low-intensity harvests produced models with lower extinction risk than infrequent high-intensity harvests.” (Center for Plant Conservation, Collecting Rare Plant Seeds)
For common natives the federal Seeds of Success program allows more. It takes no more than 20 percent of a population’s seed in a season, or of the ripe seed on any one day, from at least 50 plants. It excludes every species listed, proposed or a candidate under the Act. It also excludes those ranked G1, G2, S1 or S2.
Planting a listed plant at home
Match the ground in the table: pondberry wants soil that floods or stays soggy in spring, and pygmy fringetree deep sand that drains fast. The planting-site check grades a spot for any of them.
Keep a planted rare species away from wild stands of its own kind. Conservation botanists usually found a new population from one wild population matched to the site, since mixing populations can cause outbreeding depression. Plant Florida torreya well away from the Apalachicola River bluffs, so a new tree does not catch the canker there. Keep the label and the seller’s record of the seed’s source, as a conservation collection does for every seed lot.
Where to start
Start with the tree finder set to rare plants, or the rare plants in our shop. For your own ground, ask your state’s natural heritage program, listed in the NatureServe network directory. What a rare tree gives a yard is the subject of why plant a rare native tree.
Common questions
Is it legal to buy an endangered plant?
Under the federal law, yes, from a seller in your own state: the Endangered Species Act does not prohibit commerce in legally acquired plants within one state. A sale across state lines needs the Fish and Wildlife Service’s permit. State laws add rules of their own.
Can I plant an endangered tree in my yard?
Under the federal law, yes: the Act bars trade across state lines and removal from federal land, not growing a legally acquired plant at home. Match its wild habitat and keep it away from wild stands of its kind.
What does state threatened mean for a plant?
It means a state lists the plant as at risk within its borders, though short of endangered: likely to become endangered, in New York’s words, or in rapid decline, in Florida’s. In Florida, New York and Ohio, no one may dig one from another owner’s land without permission.
How much seed can I collect from a wild plant?
From a rare plant, no more than 10 percent of a population’s seed in a season, and only with the landowner’s permission. For common natives, the federal Seeds of Success protocol allows up to 20 percent.
Sources
(10 references)
- Endangered Species Permits: Frequently Asked Questions: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with its leaflet U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Permits for Native Species under the Endangered Species Act: the meanings of endangered and threatened, the acts barred for endangered plants against an endangered animal’s protection from take, possession not itself a violation, commerce entirely within one state not prohibited, labeled seed of cultivated threatened plants needing no permit, and the bars reaching a plant’s seeds.
- 50 CFR § 17.61, Prohibitions: Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, with section 17.71: the acts barred for endangered plants without a permit, and the same bars for threatened plants listed on or before August 20, 2026, with the exemption for seeds of cultivated origin.
- How Are Rare Plants Conserved?: USDA Forest Service, Celebrating Wildflowers, with its pages Wildflower Ethics and Native Plants and Genetic Considerations, the second reprinting Wild Ones’ guidelines: the Act’s limited reach for plants on non-federal land, rising poaching of wildflowers on national forests with endangered species among them and whole populations stolen, dug plants that seldom survive transplanting, “nursery grown” against “nursery propagated”, and stock from your own region.
- The NatureServe Network: NatureServe, with its page Conservation Status Assessment: the network directory of natural heritage programs, the global and state ranks from 1 to 5, and ranks that imply no legal status.
- F.S. 581.185, Preservation of native flora of Florida: The Florida Legislature, The 2026 Florida Statutes: the meaning of a threatened plant, the landowner’s written permission and a permit to harvest an endangered plant on another’s or public land, every federally listed species on the state’s list, licensed nurseries selling plants they grow from seed or cuttings, and inspectors watching for listed plants that appear suddenly at a nursery.
- § 9-1503. Removal of protected plants: New York State Senate, Environmental Conservation Law, read in the Internet Archive’s copy of May 20, 2025: the state’s meaning of a threatened plant, removal of a protected plant without the owner’s consent, and the section’s rules on the sale of American ginseng.
- G.S. 106-202.19, Unlawful acts; penalties; enforcement: North Carolina General Assembly, General Statutes: digging a protected plant from another’s land without the owner’s written permit of no more than 180 days, and selling, trading or giving one away only as the state’s rules allow.
- Chapter 1518, Endangered Species: Ohio Revised Code, Ohio Laws: a state list that takes in every federally listed native plant, removal from public land or another’s property without written permission, and sale by licensed nurseries of plants grown under cultivation.
- Collecting Rare Plant Seeds: Center for Plant Conservation, with its pages Using the Conservation Collection for Reintroductions and Field Genebanks or Inter Situ Collections: the landowner’s permission and permits that can take six months to a year, the 10 percent limit and the 2004 modeling behind it, the records kept for each seed lot, founders from a single matched population since mixing can cause outbreeding depression, and plants from different populations kept apart.
- Seeds of Success Technical Protocol 2026 (PDF): Bureau of Land Management, with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2026): no more than 20 percent of a population’s seed in a season or of the ripe seed in a day, at least 50 plants, and the listed, proposed, candidate and G1, G2, S1 and S2 species the program excludes.
