Somewhat esoteric question

[sabriner]

… is it stealing to get a cutting from a plant that is not on your property? What if it’s on public property?

i mean, a small cutting, like a few inches.

or even picking flowers, does that constitute stealing?

 

[Bookcat]

… is it stealing to get a cutting from a plant that is not on your property? What if it’s on public property?

i mean, a small cutting, like a few inches.

or even picking flowers, does that constitute stealing?

It can be…

Theft in the Catechism:

2408 The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another’s property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing . . .) is to put at one’s disposal and use the property of others.190

2409 Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civil law, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventh commandment: thus, deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another.191

The following are also morally illicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste. Willfully damaging private or public property is contrary to the moral law and requires reparation.

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Note in particular this line:

*There is no theft if consent can be presumed *

So it can depend…

I would just ask the powers that be…

But note too that public parks etc may have specific regulations against picking flowers etc

 

[micahmike]

I really thin kit depends on A) if the plant has a clear owner and B) how accesable is the particular plant to others.

If the plant is something that someone is raising for profit, eg a tree at a tree farm, fruit or vegetables on a farm, etc, that is certainly wrong.

If the plant is in a public area where the public would suffer (and I know I’m using the word very lightly) if everyone else did as you did, that wouldn’t be right. For example, if a neighborhood has 6000 people and only one tree, don’t take a leaf, because if everyone did there would be no tree left. This assumes you don’t have permission from the tree owner (most likely the city). If you do, go ahead and do as you will.

If you’re in a remote public area, let’s say you’re hiking in the desert on public property, far off the beaten path, where uyou are the only person who will ever see the plat, I see no reason not to do as you will, unless the plant is protected for some reason.

 

[sabriner]

Thank you both, and micahmike really cleared it up