In article , Mike Lyle
writes

But under UK law all land is somebody's property, and that includes
anything growing on it. So even if it isn't illegal to collect seed of
a particular species (but ISTR the prohibition now covers all
species)

but which Act made that provision? I don't think that provision has been
made.

, without the owner's permission it's ordinary theft to
collect seed from privately-owned plants: i.e., all plants. Catch 23?

Absolutely, though in practice the local authority, for example, isn't
going to prosecute you for collecting see from a roadside verge, or the
local water works for collecting fungi and blackberries in their woods.

Regardless of whether I'm right about that, I think people should take
the Spanish bluebell problem seriously: pollen gets moved about quite
a lot. I was going to plant some "Spaniards" last year, because I
wanted some white ones, and decided not to, to be on the safe side.

I suspect we are beyond that point - I was shocked to find the bluebells
my father had passed from his garden (which would have been planted 50
years ago) were spanish. I think if you are in an urban site, most of
the bluebells around you are likely to be spanish. Plantlife are doing a
Bluebell survey this year - it will be interesting to see what
distribution they find.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm