The issue is not that you can buy endangered species as that’s all theater and a smoke show. You sort of point out the hypocrisy of large corporations being able to afford the legal fees like CITE documentation to import species. Like the Panama flower Holy Ghost orchid I think is threatened in the wild, but if you raise it from seed or a grower in a greenhouse than it’s 100% legal and you just need a CITE document. It basically is supposed to encourage growing endangered plants on farms rather than harvesting in the wild.
The term endangered species is theater and a smoke show sometimes like you mention they can be bought in the US. Now if a Galapagos tortoise is illegal to remove from the wild, but there are tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of them living in Florida and throughout the US ask yourself. Are they truly endangered? Nope they are not endangered in the US and they’re not even native to the US so it’s absurd to consider them endangered in the US. It’s like are tigers endangered in the US when potentially there are more tigers living in the US than in the wild? Sturgeon 100% should be raised on farms to make money for companies and thankfully someone did bring some in to Louisiana years ago. They now raise them for caviar and raise some eggs to release back into the wild in Europe or Russia. Are sturgeon that are from Europe but raised in the US truly endangered in the US? It’s like the absurd fact how they released wolves back into Yellowstone to mimic nature, but people forgot that the species of wolf they released back into Yellowstone is an invasive species and not a native wolf species that used to roam Yellowstone. I agree with you it’s frustrating you can’t bring a small piece of wood to Europe but large companies can to sell. I bet you could import a small piece the issue is you’d have to file a CITE document form and jump through hoops which is why companies can import cheaper than you can. Customers should be able to import or move wood like you mention to Europe without tons of documents as it’d make more sense to have companies be verified if they follow the law. Instead the government makes the customer verify that they legally bought it and file CITE documents when it’d be easier if companies were just CITE verified and the government or customs just look it up cause they already know everything or have digital data on everything anyways.

You probably need to find any evidence like pictures or documents showing you had the seeds before they were illegal or put on a ban. That said there are tons of examples in the US of people owning trees they grow that then become endangered and illegal to import. A man in Arizona grows 19 of 26 species of frankincense trees. In Louisiana an immigrant brought fish sturgeon and raises it for caviar. They use the fish eggs to sell, but they also raise some to release back into the wild in Russia or Europe. So technically speaking there are tons of examples that show it can be great to raise endangered species as a business because it can help prevent extinction.True pillaging of harvesting a species till extinction is horrible, but look at tigers or lions that were imported into the US over the last century. The descendants of those tigers in the US are like more numerous than actual tigers in the wild. So people may hate it but like tigers won’t go extinct. Now over regulation and pillaging etc. helped the black rhino or whatever go extinct. Now if there were farms with rhinos in different countries just like companies raising sturgeon in different countries maybe that specie wouldn’t have gone extinct.

Greenheart seeds are still being sold as well as there are brown heart seeds being sold by someone who had them on private property.

I have seeds that were propagated long before the bans of some trees on the red list. A private property has many of these types growing for preservation. My question is if the seeds were obtained prior to any ban and I harvest these trees soon after all these years will they be considered illegal. The red Meranti and other seeds all were before any of the woods or trees being added. Some of these trees are now about fifty years old or more.

Generally, yes. As far as CITES is concerned, the only real scrutiny that occurs is when the wood crosses international borders.

Perhaps you have not seen a wide cross section of this hardwood. the range is from a yellowish green – going all the way through a darkish brown. As the wood ages, it is also affected by oxidization changing its color. When freshly cut, it is at its most vibrant color. This color range can also occur all at the same time in a single tree, or length, or piece of lumber. I hope this helps

I recgonize those. I last saw them in California. I need a better picture but truly, they look similar.

I don’t know if there are any restrictions on the national level as I’m not familiar with UK. But with CITES, it only applies to pieces crossing international borders, so it wouldn’t even come up unless it were being shipped out of the country. Even then, Parana pine isn’t a restricted species.

Are you in the United States, or elsewhere?

Stuff grown in non-tropic zones, FSC certified from UK and second hand generally are the best options. These ebay variety packs are often of dubious origins but so long as they conform with the above and are from a proper UK business then they should be ethically sound. Don’t be afraid to buy veneer, it makes better sense for your use than using solid wood. Veneer warps wood easily when drying or after so do plenty of research if at all unsure. :)