Seedless Lychee plants were legally imported to FLorida from China in 2014. They were in the 1 year Greenhouse quarantine protocol when , something went wrong..
I do also believe there is always a backdoor way with the way the ruling class, dignitaries , super rich and their associates roll, alot can be done , obviously. Corruption is a common occurrence worldwide.
I know 1 guy that say’s he played an important roll for a ruling family and he said this eliminated any rules of import/export. People are full of it obviously , but this also clearly go’s on.
Also , how do the people that travel to countries looking for rare and unusual species bring those seeds , scions or plants home? Legally,, hahaha
A final example ( all countries are different) , a TFF member visited me from India, i had been holding a plant for him for a year or so, he successfully flew home with the plant
The grass is always greener so if you have something another collector highly covets , the incentive is there to attempt to put those seedless lychee scion in the mail and see what happens.
There is way to request wood from the Hilo station as well, the people that work there said they send out wood when requested , theres surely an email contact on their website. .