Up to 900 of Western Australia's rarest orchids have been stolen from Kings Park Botanic Garden.
The small tubers of Collie spider and Carbunup king spider orchids planted in the park's conservation garden were dug up in late January.
Fines of up to $500,000 could apply for individuals caught with the rare plants or up to $2.5 million for a corporation found to be involved.
Kings Park director Sue McDougall said the plants were on display for visitors as part of a collaboration between the science and horticultural teams orchid research program.
"In their natural habitat, there are only a few hundred species available, so this is the work of a four-year research project," she said.
"Being able to learn how to grow these plants and then restore them and rehabilitate and put them back into the natural habitat is one of the goals of conservation horticulture — what we do at Kings Park.
"It's really set conservation efforts back at least four years with these two species."
Ms McDougall said she believed the flowers were taken in two separate incidents.
"We think there was one disturbance. Then the next night, we thought we might have been at the end of it. But then someone's come back again and taken the next lot," she told ABC Radio Perth.
"It was really suspicious. The soil was all disturbed. They'd been dug up like somebody had got the shovel to them. It was really obvious."
Ms McDougall urged the community to monitor online gardening groups and forums for anyone who might be attempting to sell the rare plants.
"Plant hunters just have this passion to get something rare and endangered. They might try to sell them on Facebook or social media," she said.
"Without a host plant, they won't survive. You think that you're going to grow them and have these incredible spider orchids, but it's an exact science."
Years of work lost
Orchid research scientist Belinda Davis said it was a major setback for her relocation program.
"To get to this point it's been four years of collaborations," she said.
"We were also using these plants as an opportunity to optimise our transfer from glasshouse to soil, so we've lost that data as well."
Ms Davis said there was a market for rare plants to be stolen and sold.
"It's hard to put a price on these plants, we would argue they're invaluable given their threatened status," she said.
"Orchid collectors are very keen to get their hands on this kind of material."
Ms Davis said they would have to begin propagating more orchids to refill the garden beds.
WA Police has confirmed it is investigating the theft of the rare spider orchid tubers from Kings Park that were dug up between 3pm on January 19 and 9am on January 30.
A WA Police spokesperson said anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers.
