Mystery Seeds From China — Two China Post mailing envelopes next to small plastic bags of unidentified light and dark seeds.

Mystery Seeds From China

2020viral eventdead

Published November 3, 2026

Mystery Seeds From China refers to the July 2020 reports of unsolicited seed packets arriving in American and British mailboxes with Chinese postmarks, often labeled as jewelry or ear studs to avoid customs checks. Officials warned recipients not to plant them, and within days Facebook users were captioning Little Shop of Horrors stills with lines like 'When you plant those seeds from China.'

mystery memes hoax memes conspiracy memes scam memes 2020 memes

Overview

Reports of the seeds moved as a mix of genuine public health warning and viral joke material. Social media users shared photos of the tiny parcels, which were addressed to real recipients and marked with innocuous contents like jewelry or ear studs, alongside speculation that the mailings might be an invasive crop plot or something stranger2. Agricultural authorities in multiple states told anyone who got a packet to leave it sealed, contact the USDA and treat the matter as agricultural smuggling2.

Joke posts arrived within days of the first warnings. On July 30th, 2020, Facebook group OldtimersPage shared a still of the carnivorous Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors with the caption 'When you plant those seeds from China,' picking up more than 18,000 shares in under a day4. Instagram page @saycheesetv ran its own post on July 26th about the mystery mailings that reached more than 11,000 likes in less than a week4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook (viral spread)
Date
2020

Reports of mystery seeds began in the UK before the story broke in the US. British tabloid Daily Mail covered the issue on July 17th, 2020, quoting Derbyshire gardener Sue Westerdale, who received a packet marked 'ear studs' containing large black seeds after making legitimate seed purchases through Amazon1. Westerdale wrote about her delivery on a British gardening Facebook forum and said she heard back from hundreds of people with the same story1.

The US story went viral on July 24th, 2020, when the Washington State Department of Agriculture posted a Facebook warning about packets arriving in envelopes marked as jewelry, cautioning that the contents could be invasive or dangerous to livestock4. That same day, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services issued its own alert saying several residents had received packages that appeared to come from China5. Snopes confirmed the mailings on July 25th but rated the stories 'mixed' because the motive behind them was unclear2.

How It Spread

Within a week of the Washington state warning, agricultural departments across dozens of states had issued their own alerts, and the story picked up coverage from major US outlets2. On July 30th, 2020, Fortune reported that the USDA and FBI were still investigating but that the growing consensus among law enforcement pointed to a 'brushing' scam3. Fortune explained the technique: a seller mails unordered low-value items to real addresses so they can post fake 'verified purchase' reviews under those names, lifting their listings up the Amazon search rankings3.

Joke posts arrived alongside the news coverage. @saycheesetv on Instagram and Facebook group OldtimersPage both got traction within a week of the Washington state warning, with the OldtimersPage Little Shop of Horrors still reaching more than 18,000 shares in under 24 hours4. The Fortune piece noted that one of the earliest English-language uses of 'brushing' came from a 2015 Wall Street Journal report about the technique being used to game Alibaba in China3.

Timeline

2020-07-17

The Daily Mail reports hundreds of British gardeners receiving unsolicited seed packets from China, including Derbyshire's Sue Westerdale, whose parcel was marked 'ear studs'[1].

2020-07-24

The Washington State Department of Agriculture posts a Facebook warning about packets marked as jewelry, telling residents not to plant the seeds[4].

2020-07-24

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services issues an alert that several residents had received unsolicited seeds appearing to come from China[5].

2020-07-25

Snopes rates the mystery seed reports 'mixed,' confirming the mailings but noting the motive was unknown[2].

2020-07-26

Instagram page @saycheesetv posts about the seeds, reaching more than 11,000 likes in less than a week[4].

2020-07-30

Fortune reports that the USDA and FBI investigation leaned toward a Chinese 'brushing' scam used to game Amazon reviews[3].

2020-07-30

Facebook group OldtimersPage posts a Little Shop of Horrors still captioned 'When you plant those seeds from China,' reaching more than 18,000 shares in a day[4].

How to Use This Meme

Most jokes around the event paired a photo of a monstrous or alien plant with a caption like 'When you plant those seeds from China,' trading on the fear that recipients might sow something invasive4. The common convention is to use the OldtimersPage format with Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, though stills from other killer plant films work the same way4.

Frequently Asked Questions