A MAN was found illegally collecting Ficus hirta Vahl, commonly known as hairy fig, at Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in Luohu District on Sunday. Although stopped by another citizen, the man ignored the warning and put the plants into his bag before brazenly leaving the site, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

A citizen’s online footage revealed the man’s behavior to the public Tuesday. The citizen, also a videographer, immediately reported the incident to the botanical garden authorities after his warning attempt failed.

According to the videographer, known online as Bulaoshi, the video was shot Sunday when he was on his way from a mountain road to Fairy Lake Botanical Garden to film fruit bats. He came across and overheard a group of people discussing going up the mountain to collect herbs. At first, he didn’t pay much attention to them.

“When I entered the garden, I bumped into this group of people again. They had found hairy fig and I had an intuition that they were going to collect it,” Bulaoshi told the reporter with the News.

“Sure enough, a woman first went up to pull it out, but to no avail. Then a man came forward, who quickly pulled down two hairy fig twigs,” Bulaoshi said.

Bulaoshi said that he promptly stopped them and told them that they couldn’t just pick wild plants at Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, but the people took no heed and left the scene directly.

“They left after they collected their target plants. They don’t look like ordinary tourists. Instead, they are likely to be ‘habitual offenders,” Bulaoshi said, adding that he released the video in hopes of arousing public attention so that this kind of behavior will not go unchecked.

According to Zhang Shouzhou, deputy director of the management office of Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Ficus hirta Vahl is a perennial shrub of the Moraceae family. The plant is both medicinal and edible and Cantonese people have a long-term habit of eating it.

“However, it is definitely wrong to pick wild Ficus hirta Vahl in scenic spots and public parks and such behavior must be punished,” said Zhang.

(Zhang Yu)