A British Columbia company has been ordered to pay $50,000 in penalties for illegally importing a herbal oil containing a protected orchid species.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says Topwin Trading Co. Ltd. pleaded guilty to violating a trade act earlier this month, three years after the Canada Border Services Agency intercepted a shipment containing over 10,000 vials of the oil.

The department says a shipping invoice indicated it included plant material derived from a species of orchid native to East Asia, known as the hyacinth orchid or Chinese ground orchid.

In a news release, it says enforcement officers from Environment and Climate Change inspected and detained 51 boxes of the vials.

The department says Topwin Trading also pleaded guilty in 2010 to illegally importing a carton of another plant species that is commonly used in dried form as a medicinal herb.

It says exploitation of the world's wild flora and fauna is not tolerated in Canada.