There is a pretty substantial plant quarantine and inspection program that a person is supposed to go through to get any whole plant from another country to the US. It's to prevent the spread of diseases, insects, fungus, etc. not native to the US. I believe you need a license to receive plants, and maybe some paperwork on both ends. I started the process once, and it was such a PITA I gave up. The fines are pretty terrible IIRC. Billions of dollars are lost because of invasive species and pathogens every year (gypsy moth, chestnut blight, hemlock wooly adelgid, Dutch elm disease, fruit flies, etc. etc), so the Feds take it pretty seriously.
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