Hi Gordon, The best I can find out on the net is that Lilium ledebourii is not on the CITES lists, which would be the legal regulation for international trade in for endangered or vulnerable plants. It wouldn't be listed as endangered by the ESA because that concerns only native flora and fauna of the US and its territories. There is a reference to it being "protected" in at least part of its range, presumably it occurs in a protected national park in Iran. My guess is that there might be local Iranian legislation regarding its status, but if its not on CITES then I don't think that there is a legal problem with importing seed using the appropriate permits (disclaimer--I am not a lawyer). There might be a potential problem with importing anything from Iran, as I do not know if the sanctions that were supposed to be removed as a part of the recent nuclear power deal between Iran and the US have been lifted or not as of now, but I imagine if not they soon will be. It would be ethically preferable of course to import seed from cultivated plants in Iran (or Azerbaijan, where it also occurs). The fact that it is found in two nations also suggests that "rare" may be a relative term, perhaps "localized" to the border region of these two nations might be more appropriate, but one would need a field botanist familiar with the area and this species to know the answer to that. Ernie in NY Where I planted about half of the discounted legal Dutch grown bulbs today, and dug up more onion grass, one of the banes of my existence. It must be dug and thrown in the trash as glyphosate doesnt kill it and anything stronger/more persistent is bad for the environment/neighboring plants. Also pleased to see leaves of young Brunsvigia radula that survived last winter (leaves got fried by the end of February though) reemerged, maybe they will do well in the likely mild winter that will come, as they are quite frost resistant for a winter growing bulb. -----Original Message----- From: Gordon Hogenson <gordonhogenson@yahoo.com> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Sun, Nov 15, 2015 1:51 pm Subject: Re: [pbs] Seeds of Lilium ledebourii for (questionable) sale Can someone in the know clarify the legal status of L. ledebourii? The ESA lists L. occidentale, and L. pardalinum ssp. pitkinense is listed, but I was not aware that any other Lilium is legally classified as endangered. I'm not as familiar with CITES plant lists, but I think if it were listed there, it would appear on the NARGS list of restricted plants: https://www.nargs.org/restricted-seed/, unless it's out of date. Of course the plants in the wild still need to be protected, and seed collecting should be done responsibly, but with no listing from ESA and CITES, would it not be legal to import the seeds using the appropriate Plants for Planting permit? Gordon