“绿色钻石”？2019-2022南非至少400万株野生肉锥遭盗采｜肉锥清网行动·名家谈（73）(3)

从种子中生长也是最有价值的，因为它反映了一个物种内的变异性，许多植物在年轻时看起来更好（例如，C.pellucidum衰老后会变得丑陋！最重要的是，这种种子清单是从真正可靠/合法的材料来源获得的。我们也可以分享材料，无论是备用的幼苗还是插条（绝大多数Conos的身体在秋季很容易重新生根）。
如果你没有为你收藏的肉锥植物尝试授粉来生产你自己的种子，那么我鼓励你尝试一下。这并不难，因为你只需要一根“挠痒的棉签”和一些记录你授粉尝试的方法。我要么用一根从家用画笔上取下的尼龙毛（正如史蒂文·哈默多年前向我展示的那样，它可以在拇指和食指之间旋转，产生直升机般的运动，可以非常有效地拾取花粉）或者一把便宜又愉快的细尖画笔（从亚马逊购买）。我用彩色标签标明哪些植物是人工授粉的，这样我就可以丢弃没有标记的花盆里的种子胶囊。当为夜间开花的肉锥植物授粉时，手电筒可能很有用。应该尽一切努力阻止昆虫（这几乎是不可能的任务）。为了确保授粉成功，需要在几天内（最好是在一天中的不同时间）进行几次授粉的尝试。成熟的种囊会在第二年随着植物老皮的脱落而收获。
GREEN DIAMONDS
by Andrew J. Young
One of the terms I have heard used to describe dwarf succulents in South Africa is "Green Diamonds". This derives from the fact that some locals believe that it is both substantially easier and safer to harvest plants such as Conophytum than conduct illicit digging for diamonds.
The sheer scale of illegal harvesting of succulents is truly frightening.Since 2019 almost 400,000 individual Conophytum plants have been confiscated from poachers in South Africa and are being looked after at Kirstenbosch and other botanical gardens. It is not unreasonable to assume that confiscations represent at the very most 10% of all the plants illegally removed from habitat then we can estimate that at least 4 million Conophytum plants have been collected in the last three years alone (the vast majority of these in 2020-21). This figure is almost certainly an underestimate. Many of these harvested plants have probably not survived. The poaching also impacts floral diversity geographically in that the poaching appears to be primarily centred around parts of central Namaqualand and the Richtersveld. While most poaching seemingly takes place on "open lands" the presence of plants on farms or nature reserves is no deterrent.