REDDING, Calif. — The US Department of Agriculture issued warnings to several states, including California, about receiving unsolicited seeds being sent to people in the mail from China.

If you receive a mysterious package of seeds, the USDA says to not open or plant them.

“It’s a wide variety of seeds that we’ve seen so far but some are different and some are the same,” said Deputy Agricultural Commissioner with Shasta, John Ingram.

The shipments packages could be labeled as jewelry.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US, some found in the Northstate

The Shasta County Department of Agriculture confirmed as of Wednesday, eight residents in the Shasta county area have received the seeds.

“We noticed Sunday that this has started appearing in counties in California and we received our first call, coincidentally Monday afternoon. So we started obtaining our first sample yesterday,” said Rick Gurrola,

One Shasta resident reportedly received 16 packs of the seeds.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US, some found in the Northstate

It’s unclear if this is a “brushing scam” where people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost sales.

The SCDA is asking residents not to open, plant, or dispose of any unsolicited seed packets received, but to contact them.

Mysterious seeds sent from China to the US, some found in the Northstate

“If you still have the seeds intact, we would like to have that. If you have opened the package, that’s fine as well. But give those to us because we don’t know what the seeds are. The seeds are all types of varieties, many shapes, and sizes and we don’t know what the seeds are yet,” Gurrola said.

The USDA is collecting the packages and will test their contents to see if they contain anything harmful to the environment.

If you do receive these seed packages, please contact your local county Department of Agriculture.