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Is it illegal to pick wildflowers (well, daffs) growing in the countryside?

Consuela Banana Hammock, 23 March, 2009 at 12:19 Posted on Off Topic Posts 0 1

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Just pondering this. I saw a woman (in her 80s if she was a day) picking daffodils along a country lane this morning as I was walking my dog. I thought it was illegal to do this. She was doing quite a clandestine job of it and hiding them in a shopping bag so I'm wondering if she knew it was a bit naughty? Would you do it? And if you saw somebody else doing it, would you say anything?

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Latest activity by Pint&APie, 23 March, 2009 at 12:37

Knownowt · 23 March, 2009 at 12:35
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Certain wildflowers are protected and picking them is an offence in itself but I doubt v much that daffs are covered by this.

However it is technically theft- the flowers are the property of whoever owns the land. Even verges by the road are owned by someone (often the council).

So yes, illegal, and also a fairly shitty thing to do. I might say something if I'd been in your position or I might not- would depend whether I was feeling grumpy.
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Beginner May 2005
Pint&APie · 23 March, 2009 at 12:37
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Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, which covers Britain, it is illegal to uproot any wild plant without permission from the landowner or occupier. Uproot is defined as to ‘dig up or otherwise remove the plant from the land on which it is growing’, whether or not it actually has roots; and, for the purposes of the legislation, the term ‘plant’ includes algae, lichens and fungi as well the true plants – mosses, liverworts and vascular plants.

Picking is a different matter, and, as knownowt says, comes under the category of theft. On the one hand, yes she was breaking the law, but then I have trouble being too harsh on a pensioner collecting a couple of daffs.
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