Phrag bessaeae was discovered in the 1980's, when it was still legal to import collected paphs and phrags. While it was all the rage, availability was simply based on whether you could afford them....by the late 80's seedlings were easily available, and price had dropped somewhat, but they were still difficult to grow for most people. Now, of course, not only has ease of growth been bred into the available plants, but selective breeding has made even the most random seedling likely to be beautiful....my bessaea was purchased for maybe $15 (?) from ebay ....it may not be an award winner, but it has to be the most beautiful phrag that I own. In 1990 the current CITES regulations went into effect. There is no (legal) way to distribute collected plants or even most of their seedlings.....this of course increases the demand exponentially, and increases the profit for those able to smuggle illegal plants ...and increases whatever money is available to the locals who can collect and sell them, even if its not a huge amount. This is what makes kovachii such a heavily discussed and demanded plant....legal growers who can afford it have to wait...the unknown number of illegal growers have to be hush-hush about their plants until it becomes more common...(by which point, the cultivated plants may be superior in both form and ease of growth to the collected plants)....Not to mention the circumstances of its introduction...besseae was fully legal to bring in for description....kovachii was illegally brought in to the country....I for one am willing to wait until kovachii has become more affordable........Take care, Eric Muehlbauer in damp but lush Queens NY...fending off hordes of Asian Tiger mosquitoes!
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