Alberto Castillo wrote about the Bomarea in the CHilean botanic garden: >Incredible that they have it trained up a cage when it is actually a >trailing plant. They probably keep it in a cage so visitors won't pick the flowers! One site of it in the Llanos de Challe national park has signs "No cortar la flora," and because it's near a road, the rangers keep a close eye on it. It is an iconic plant in CHile. When I saw Leontochir ovallei being grown at the botanic garden in Valparaiso, it was in a cactus house to which I got access only after finding a curator to unlock the door. He told me that the cacti had to be protected that way or people would steal whole plants for their gardens. This is not, of course, a problem unique to Chilean botanic gardens. I've seen whole collections in alpine houses sequestered behind metal screen to keep the public's greedy hands away.