Florida’s endangered and threatened plant list, formally the Regulated Plant Index, protects 448 endangered species, 118 threatened species, and 9 commercially exploited species native to the state. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) maintains the index under Rule 5B-40.0055 of the Florida Administrative Code, and the legal restrictions on harvesting, transporting, or selling a listed plant depend on which of those three categories it falls into.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 581.185 – Preservation of Native Flora of Florida A collector who needs only written landowner permission for one category may need a full state permit for another.
What the Regulated Plant Index Is
The index is the state’s official roster of native species that receive harvest protection. It ranges from inconspicuous ground covers to showy orchids and bromeliads, with orchids, bromeliads, cacti, ferns, and insectivorous plants like sundews and pitcher plants heavily represented because collectors have historically targeted them.
Additions, removals, and category changes come through the Endangered Plant Advisory Council, a body appointed by the Commissioner of Agriculture that periodically reviews the list and sends recommendations to FDACS.
One point worth stating up front, because the name of the list suggests otherwise: the Regulated Plant Index exists solely to restrict unauthorized harvesting. No agency can use it to regulate construction or other land-alteration activity on your own property.
How Florida Defines Endangered, Threatened, and Commercially Exploited
Section 581.185 of the Florida Statutes sorts protected plants into three categories, each carrying different legal weight.
- Endangered. A native species in imminent danger of disappearing from the state entirely if current pressures continue. Florida’s endangered category also automatically includes every plant listed as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973.
- Threatened. A native species declining rapidly but not yet at the brink. Populations are still larger than for endangered species, though the trend is heading the wrong way.
- Commercially exploited. A native species pulled from the wild in large numbers for sale. The category exists because commercial demand alone can devastate a population even when habitat is stable.
Florida can list a plant as endangered even if it does well elsewhere in the Southeast. State concern is whether the species will vanish from Florida, not whether it will vanish altogether.
What You Can and Cannot Do With Listed Plants
The restrictions ratchet up by category. Treating them interchangeably is the fastest way to break the law by accident.
Endangered Plants
To harvest or destroy an endangered plant on someone else’s private land or on any public land, you need both written permission from the landowner or managing agency and a permit from FDACS. There is no small-quantity exception. If you want to sell an endangered plant harvested from your own property, you still need a state permit in your possession.
Threatened Plants
Harvesting threatened plants from another person’s private land or from public land requires written landowner permission, but no state permit for the harvest itself. Selling threatened plants harvested from your own property does not require a permit either. This is the least restrictive category for landowners.
Commercially Exploited Plants
Harvesting one or two commercially exploited plants from someone else’s land or public land requires written landowner permission. Harvesting three or more adds the requirement of a state permit. Anyone transporting these plants for sale or offering them for sale must carry a permit.
Documents in the Field
In every category, anyone harvesting, transporting on a public road, or selling a listed plant must keep the written permission and any applicable permit on their person throughout the activity. Law enforcement can ask to see the documents on the spot, and leaving them at home is itself a problem.
Exemptions Most Landowners Do Not Realize They Have
Section 581.185 fully exempts several routine activities from its restrictions. The law targets unauthorized harvesting, not everyday land management.
- Clearing land for agriculture, silviculture, fire control, or required mining assessment work.
- A landowner or their agent clearing regulated plants from canals, ditches, survey lines, building sites, roads, and other rights-of-way.
- Government agencies and public or private utilities clearing land in the course of providing service to the public.
These exemptions run broader than most people expect. A landowner building a house can clear endangered plants from the building site without violating this statute. Trouble starts when someone takes plants from land they do not own, or harvests plants for sale, without the required permissions and permits.
How to Get an FDACS Harvesting Permit
When your activity requires a state permit, you apply through the FDACS Division of Plant Industry, either online or on a downloadable form. The application asks for the specific species, the harvest location, and the purpose. Once approved, the permit lists conditions you must follow, and you must carry it during any harvesting, transporting, or selling. The statute requires immediate possession, not eventual proof.
Federal Overlay: The Endangered Species Act
Florida’s state law is not the only layer of protection, and the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) treats plants differently than most people assume. On federal land such as national forests or wildlife refuges, the ESA makes it illegal to remove or damage a federally listed endangered plant. On private land, the federal “take” prohibition does not apply to plants the way it applies to animals. Destroying a federally listed plant on your own property is not a federal offense unless done in knowing violation of state law or in the course of criminal trespass. On private land, Florida’s Section 581.185 is the real enforcement mechanism, and the ESA is a backstop on federal land.
The ESA does prohibit the import, export, interstate commercial transport, and sale of federally listed plants regardless of where they were collected. Even a plant lawfully harvested from your own Florida property can become a federal problem the moment it crosses a state line for commercial sale.
The Lacey Act Turns State Violations Into Federal Ones
Under 16 U.S.C. § 3372, it is a federal crime to import, export, transport, sell, or acquire any plant in interstate or foreign commerce if that plant was taken in violation of state law. A violation of Florida’s Preservation of Native Flora Act does not stay a state matter once the plants cross state lines or enter commerce.
Lacey Act penalties scale with the conduct. A general civil violation involving declaration requirements carries a penalty of up to $250. Knowing violations or trafficking in illegally taken plants can reach $10,000 in civil penalties. Criminal penalties for knowing violations involving sales or purchases above $350 in market value reach up to five years in prison and fines of $250,000 for individuals. Vehicles, equipment, and the plants themselves are subject to forfeiture.
A collector who strips endangered orchids from a Florida state park and sells them online to buyers in Georgia has not just violated Section 581.185. They have committed a federal offense, and the penalties change accordingly.
Penalties Under Florida Law
Section 581.185 makes it unlawful to falsify documentation related to regulated plants, to harvest without required permissions or permits, or to transport or sell listed plants without proper authorization. Violations can produce civil penalties or criminal charges depending on the facts, and enforcement can reach both the person who harvested the plants and anyone who knowingly bought or transported them.
Taking plants from another person’s land without permission also exposes the collector to trespass liability under Florida’s general property laws, on top of the plant-specific penalties. And once the plants move across state lines or into commercial sale, the Lacey Act adds fines and prison terms well beyond anything the state imposes on its own.