Mystery Seeds From China

By Eric Pfeiffer

Hoosier Ag Today

More today on the mystery seeds showing up on doorsteps around the country from China. Utah agriculture officials have done testing and they do contain a plant considered a noxious weed in the Midwest.

Robert Hoggard, director of Plant Industry at the Utah Department of Agriculture, says they have already identified several seeds. “There’s been some roses, some rose species. A lespedeza species, which is noxious in some of the Midwestern states, specifically Kansas, it’s a Chinese bush clover. There’s one that’s an Asian herb that’s in the mint family. And then there’s been flower species, some of those that we already have in the United States and wouldn’t be a problem. But some of these really are a concern; we don’t want to get those established here.”

For the full article, see this week’s edition of the Parke County Sentinel.