Sharing seeds of rare plants
penstemon (Thu, 13 Nov 2014 10:01:36 PST)

I don't think any of us have a problem if a person wants to keep a "true
strain", but we do have a problem with the government restricting what we
grow and share in the name of genetic purity.

Too much emphasis on "the government", here, I think.
Take, for example, state governments, and, in particular, the Colorado
Department of Agriculture. Euphorbia myrsinites is listed as a noxious weed.
(You can see it growing along the road in one or two places.) Whose idea was
it to list it? I doubt that anyone in the CDoA has the inclination to drive
around the state looking for "invasive exotics" to include on their list
(for the purpose of, say, increasing their power and authority).
Undoubtedly, someone saw the euphorbia, totally freaked out, and contacted
the CDoA.
I would suggest that the government, state or federal, is simply enforcing,
more or less, something that someone with influence, and not in the
government, thought was a good idea.

Bob Nold
Denver, Colorado