Mystery seeds allegedly from China showing up again in Texas, residents urged not to plant them

The government of Texas is once again urging its residents not to plant unsolicited "mystery" seeds they may have received in the mail.

Mystery packages and seeds

The Dallas Morning News reported on Feb. 7 that a Houston resident had received a package of unidentified seeds and liquid via post supposedly originating from China.

This was not the first time that United States residents have encountered such mystery seed packages, with thousands of similar packages having been received in 2020.

Texas is a major agricultural state, and as a result, is understandably worried about the possible introduction of damaging invasive non-native species of plants.

The Texas agricultural commissioner urged residents to take the matter seriously, and that unidentified seeds would not be allowed to enter Texas.

The package of seeds was reportedly forwarded to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA’s) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services for identification.

2020 incidents

During the 2020 wave, thousands of unsolicited packages were received, many marked "China Post".

The packages were often incorrectly labelled, saying they contained items like jewellery or toys, but instead contained unidentified seeds.

Don't plant them

Then, as now, the USDA and local officials urged recipients to send them the mystery seeds and not to plant them.

While The New York Times reported that the USDA considered the possibility of the packages being "nefarious", such as for biological warfare or introducing exotic species, to be low, the seeds should not be planted.

Despite these warnings, Vice reported that “hundreds” of recipients went on to plant the seeds.

The NYT report stated that a resident, who had ordered seeds originally, but also received an unsolicited and unidentified second package of seeds, planted and grew them into some kind of “giant squash plant”.

U.S. government officials later said they believed that the seeds were not maliciously sent, but were likely to be part of a "brushing scam".

In such instances, low-value items are sent in a bid to drum up further business.

In the current political climate, U.S. residents are already facing heightened political sensitivities as the U.S. Postal Service initially said it would indefinitely suspend accepting packages from China and Hong Kong, only to backtrack on it a day later.

The initial blocking of posts was due in part to a blanket 10 per cent tariff President Donald Trump has implemented on China, as well as removing an allowance that exempts low-value packages from import duties.

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Top image via Washington State Department of Agriculture/Facebook from 2020 incident