THE pilot who was given the job of flying South Africaâs exhibits to the Chelsea Flower Show in London last week initially refused to carry the cargo. This was not because it included what some botanists consider to be the worldâs rarest plant â a cycad, Encephalartos woodii â but because he feared that the unique antitheft device buried in the plant might interfere with the aircraftâs electronic instruments.
The device is a microchip implant, similar to ones that have been used to protect rare animals from thieves and smugglers. âAs far as we know, South Africa is the first and only country to use such a device on a plant,â says Jaap Pienaar of the Eastern Cape Department of Nature Conservation. âI was watching a TV programme about bugs being used to protect rare fish, and I thought âif little fish, why not cycads?ââ
Cycads are prime targets for plant smugglers, and the E. woodii sent to Chelsea would be a rich prize. The specimen, which is the star of the Kirshtenbosch Botanic Gardenâs display, was taken from a plant found on a mountain slope in Zululand a century ago. It was a lone male, and no other specimen has been found since. The plant flown to Chelsea and several hundred other clones have been grown from suckers sent out by the parent plant.
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The microchip, coated in antibacterial cream, is concealed in a small hole in the plantâs stem. âWhen we first experimented with microchip implants about three years ago we hadnât taken into account the pressure inside a plant as it grows, and the chips tended to work their way out,â says Pienaar. The chip in E. woodii is encased in a barbed, Rawlplug-like structure designed to resist rejection.
But couldnât it be gouged out by a thief? âNot without seriously damaging the plant,â says Pienaar. Besides, he says, it is extremely difficult to detect the bug without a special scanner.
Today in South Africa, all cycads transported across provincial borders have to be bugged in this way. Conservation authorities have even started bugging cycads in the wild, and use a satellite tracking system to keep tabs on them. The value of these plants makes it inevitable that smugglers will eventually find a way round the system, says Pienaar. âBut at the moment this is the best form of protection we can think of.â
