Just a few months ago, news was going around that many people in the USA were receiving unordered packages of seeds coming from China.
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Unsure whether or not the seeds carried any harmful pathogens, diseases or invasive species that could be harmful to the countries flora and fauna, recipients were warned by US officials not to plant the seeds.
However, one Arkansaw man must have missed the memo and had already planted his mystery seeds.
Curious man, Doyle Crenshawn, was one of the recipients of the seeds, except he received his package two months ago and had already planted them in his garden before the warning was issued. He claims the results so far have been pretty spectacular. He spoke to 5 News:
Every two weeks I'd come by and put Miracle-Gro on it, and they just started growing like crazy. The package said it was from China and said 'studded earrings' on the outside, and we thought that was a little odd.
Crenshawn's plant has been growing rapidly and has even started to sprout some kind of white fruit. The plant has also been blooming with orange flowers leading some to compare it to a squash plant. However, nobody knows for sure what the species the plant really is yet. Also, it seems like many households are receiving different kinds of seeds.
Officials have now stated that they will come and collect the plant for testing and to try to identify it.
Scott Bray of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture has explained the reason why they don't want anyone to plant the seeds:
Our concern is from an invasive-pest aspect; these seeds could introduce an invasive weed or an invasive insect pest or a plant disease.
However, the US Department of Agriculture also suspects that the seeds could be part of an Amazon scam in order to get better ratings on their products. The procedure has been called a 'brushing scam' and occurs when a person or store sends cheap items to unwilling customers in order to write positive fake reviews on the receiver's behalf.
Whitehouse police department stated on a Facebook post:
Although not directly dangerous, we would still prefer that people contact us to properly dispose of the seeds.
The mystery seed warnings have been issued across all 50 states and have already been 630 recipients in Florida alone as well as a further 200 in Texas. Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner told news agency Fox 4:
We don't want people opening those up, don't put them in the mail, certainly don't plant them. Contact us. Let us pick them up. Treat them like they are radioactive like they are Kryptonite
