New Anthurium species on eBay?? Seeds that look like Daffodil??

You can go find it yourself, but there is now an auction on eBay for 7 supposed Anthurium seeds with no species name. Strangely, the seeds look exactly like flower seeds or small garlic. And there is a bid! Spend your money on them if you wish, but three knowledgeable aroid experts have looked at the photos.
Another "offer" from the same seller is showing supposed seeds from Anthurium regale that look like slice potatoe. These are the wrong shape, color and size for Anthurium regale.

THESE ARE NOT ANTHURIUM SEEDS! If they ever germinate you will not grow an Anthurium!

buyer.........BEWARE![/

Want to see scientific photos of real Anthurium seeds from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute? Click these links:
http://striweb.si.edu/esp/tesp/plant_pictures/i_sp201.mx.jpg

http://striweb.si.edu/esp/tesp/plant_pictures/i_sp190.mx

http://striweb.si.edu/esp/tesp/plant_pictures/i_sp215.mx.jpg

http://striweb.si.edu/esp/tesp/plant_pictures/i_sp3931.mx.jpg

 

Hi,
I had to register to this site and give an answer to a lot of messages.
I am a Turkish citizen. I am legally registered to ebay and trying to sell promtly at the site.
The plants are grown at the warehouses at northern Cyprus. I doupt any of the people that has written here just sitting on their chairs have ever seen Cyprus. Everyone is just using similar words, these plants only grow in central america, mexico, etc, and blah blah.
You are WRONG!
Come one day as my quest and see Cyprus and have a chance to observe a lot of tropical plants that are grown there. Just talking, I am selling. Not through ebay mostly but have at least 150 customers at Europe and USA at the moment who have been buying seeds from me at least for 5 years.
I understand that some people want to belive that these species are extremely rare, though can not understand the reason, but beleive me that they are not rare, sorry for you.
I just laugh to postings that these are not anthurium seeds, probably they never had a chance to see any seed in their life. If I had permission I was ready to give the addresses and emails of my customers who has been growing anthuriums with my seeds, but they do not want to be public.
Kind Regards

 

That is all very interesting. The world's top aroid botanist, Dr. Tom Croat, says they grow in only the places I specified. Here's a link to his paper:

http://www.aroid.org/genera/anthurium/abstrap1.htm

As for your growing them in a warehouse, that is interesting. You told one person on eBay they were grown in South Africa. You told me they were in the United States. The story appears to change, doesn't it.

As for you're selling them 5 seeds at a time in a plain envelope shipped for $1, won't work! These seeds all have very short viability and will be completely crushed in the mail system in a plain envelope. But I'm not going to tell you here how to do it correcty! You go figure it out. They also die quickly and must be planted quickly in order to germinate. Even a few weeks can be too long.

The seeds in one of your photos ARE NOT Anthurium! We have no idea what they are for certain, but they look like garlic. There are enough very knowledgeable growers in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world that we can easily recognize an Anthurium seed. These are not.

And lastly. Virtually every photo on you offerings was stolen. That is a violation of International copyright law! You stole many from the website of the International Aroid Society which is why your first batch of auctions was taken down. Yesterday tracked down every one of your photos as having been stolen from the internet. A lot of them had the copyright notice posted directly beside the photo. Still, you stole them. But even it had not been stolen, you were attempting to use the property of others to sell your "seeds". I notified almost every one of those people yesterday their photos had been taken. I know for certain the website in Palm Beach, FL has reported the violation to eBay. eBay has a strict policy of not allowing the use of stolen photographs. Many of the photos you used do not even match the plants you ar naming! One auction that was taken down was for a species so rare not one single botanical garden in the U.S. has one on display. And you were offering 5 seeds for $1.99!

It is obvious from one of your other posts you believe all of these species are the simple form known as hybrids of Anthurium andereanum that are grown in Holland. They are not. There are more than 800 known species, some quite rare. You are trying to sell some of the rarer forms that do not make good "flowers".

And welcome to the forum.

 

I looked at the auction and they are not Anthurium seeds. I have grown out tons of aroids from seed and a few thousand anthuriums from seed. Their are many different forms but non I have ever seen look like the ones in your auction. I think selling false seed or plants on e-bay will have a very negative effect on the market if you are not the grower of the plants then their is a very unlikely chance they are the true species. A lot of the plants you have shown rarely seed even in nature. I have never seen Xanthosoma seed offered by anyone and have tried to get seed many times off my plants with no luck. Even if all the seeds were true to name they are only viable for a very short amount of time after 1 month or less they are no good and that is if they are kept moist.

 

Actually, Ladybotany.....if you do have plants growing in Cyprus, you would have pictures of the mother plants to go with your auctions. This would be as opposed to "borrowing" other people's pictures.

Your response is really quite funny, since one of your auctions posts a picture of an Ensete and you are selling what you state are anthurium seeds. Yet you have the gall to talk about the people who are sitting in their chairs concerned over fraud on Ebay.....

As you told me in your response, when I emailed you on Ebay, you are not a horticulturist. Many of the people that have verified the seeds you are selling are not anthurium seeds are actually horticulturists or have vast experience in the field of Aroids.

But as is in many cases like yours, where you do not care about your buyer....the bottom line is money....you will be long gone before the people that bought the seeds figure out what you have done.

 

Frankly I'm aghast as to why ebay put up with 1) Stolen photos and more importantly 2) Fraudulent claims of seeds for sale of Anthurium and they are nothing more than garlic or whatever.
I am pretty certain, when you sign up for ebay to sell, that the information you provide is to be true and correct. I haven't seen these photos of seeds on ebay, I will take eveyones word for it. If they aren't Anthurium seeds then that's fraud, false advertising or whatever you want to call it!!
Personally I feel sorry for the punters (Aussie slang means buyers)

Ed

 

First, go read Aroidexpert's post (#46) here:
http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=32692&page=2

Take a look at the real Anthurium seeds on the links he posted.

Then go to this eBay auction and take a look:
http://cgi.ebay.com/7-Anthurium-see...ryZ25463QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You will immediately see the difference.

 

Yes I certainly can see the difference. They look nothing alike at all!!! Very frustrating

Ed

 

It has become extremely apparent that some believe if you have any Anthurium seed, you can sell it as any rare Anthurium seed! A lot of people may have the seeds of Anthurium andreanum, a common species found in flower shops all over the world. But even those don't look like the seeds on the auction noted above! And you certainly cannot sell those common seeds using the names of very rare and uncommon species.

Sure, it may take years for them to figure out they did not get what they paid for! And that appears to be the hopes in this case! But the seeds of Anthurium andrianum will not produce an Anthurium marmoratum, or an Anthurium veitchii, or an Anthurium crystalinum or an Anthurium magnificum or ANY OTHER rare species!

Spend your money if you wish, but the chances of your receiving rare Anthurium seeds from this one seller is about as good as having someone ship you a snowball in an envelope from Alaska and it arriving still frozen!

 

I just had to post this one! I just got an email from one of North America's most knowledgeable aroid and Anthurium experts. This expert has spent plenty of time in the jungles of South America and knows what an Anthurium seed looks like. If you are on the Aroid l forum, guaranteed, you know his name. I asked if he had seen the very odd "seeds" being sold as Anthurium, and this is what he wrote, "Yeah, I saw them. And I wrote to the seller, who assured me that they were Anthurium seeds." Something tells me his comment was being very sarcastic!

 

Still shaking my head at this one I'm afraid :/

Ed

 

Just a follow-up on the very odd "seeds" being sold as Anthurium on eBay.

Something is quite strange regarding the purchaser of those seeds. Their only feedback appears to be from the seller of this transaction and one other that is no longer registered. They had several other transactions but every single one was "Private" or the seller is now listed as no longer a registered seller on eBay. And the seller that is no longer registered was also selling "seeds" from Turkey. That seller received a list of negatives saying the seeds were not what was being advertised. Many eBay users were surprised when this buyer, who is in the southern Caribbean, almost immediately gave a positive feedback for "seeds" that were being shipped from a great distance. Something is just not right about all of this! Does appear to be several people working together.

A notice now posted on eBay suggests this seller has sold "fake" seeds before under different names. This strange transaction along with the "no longer a registered seller" notices sure does make me wonder. As of today, this seller is only selling rose seeds. No Anthurium "seeds" are listed. But who knows what will pop up tomorrow!

 

Tomorrow.....hens teeth

Ed

 

Spoke too soon! New listings are up that are using photos lifted from other websites including one in West Palm Beach. It is your money, just read the warnings before you bid!

 

Edit

 

Be sure and file a complaint with eBay and PayPal.

And read this thread. I believe you'll find some notes from someone you'l want to read:

http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=32692&highlight=ladybotany

 

edit

 

Interestingly (but sad) the exact photo used to illustrate 25 "Anthurium regale" seeds (looked like pieces of tissue paper or chopped potato) has since been used to illustrate two other completely different species that are not Anthurium. You can find that photo on eBay right now!

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-Aroid-Alocasi...ryZ25463QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

But today it's not Anthurium regale! It has morphed into something totally different. I guess you just plant it, say a prayer, and what ever you wish for is what will grow. And after a couple of months, you pray again.

 

Want to file a complaint with eBay because they apparently won't police their own site?

Here are some telephone numbers you may find useful:

Spokesperson: Kevin Pursglove, 408-558-7458
Hours: 7:30AM - 5:30PM PT M-F
Employee's Extension: press 1
Dial by name directory: press 0
Customer Service: press 2
Operator: press 3

 

As a specialist in Alocasia hybridization, and having produced and germinated literally hundreds of Alocasia seeds, I can state with absolute certainty that the "seeds" being offered in that eBay auction are completely and totally bogus!

Even if anyone were to offer genuine Alocasia seeds via eBay, the viability on these seeds is so short that by the time the auction is over, all the seeds being offered would be useless anyway. If the seller left them in the berries for the duration of the auction, then shipped them out, they would still be dead even in the dried berry on arrival to the buyer. This kind of offer is beyond absurd and clearly designed to separate the very naive from their hard-earned money!

Anyone that purchases them can contact me and I will gladly sell them some soap chips in colors that more closely approximate the color of real Alocasia seeds!

LariAnn
Aroidia Research