The Weird Law in Texas That Won’t Let you Bring a Citrus Plant Across State Lines

(Austin, Texas) - We look to our elected officials in Austin to create laws that'll help protect us, that'll give us direction and/or that'll keep us from getting in trouble. Some of those laws make sense while others seem outright weird. It doesn't matter how we feel about them, or if we even know they exist, if we break them, we have to face the consequences.

One of those weird laws that I recently discovered is that it's illegal to talk, feed or physically interact with dolphins in the gulf. I know, weird right? But it's for a good reason, if we do that, the dolphins become dependent on us and will get aggressive when someone doesn't interact with them.

Bringing Citrus Plants, Seeds, Etc., into Texas

Another weird law was something I discovered coming back from Shreveport yesterday, it's illegal to bring citrus plants into Texas. Yeah, I didn't know that, either. Not that I am some kind of lemon smuggler, but I saw the sign as we crossed over the border from Louisiana.

Google Maps

Obviously, I looked up why it's illegal. Basically, it boils done to bringing pests and diseases into the state that can infect our native citrus crops (texasagriculture.gov). There's also a couple of pests that the State of Texas works to keep from spreading, the Mexican fruit fly and the Mediterranean fruit fly.

READ MORE: It's Illegal to Talk to Dolphins When Visiting the Texas Gulf

Penalties if Caught with Out of State Citrus

The penalties are severe if caught with citrus plants or seeds that are not native to Texas. A lot of documentation has to be kept for anyone that grows citrus in the state, too, to show it's native. There's three pages of legal speak going over the citrus laws in Texas at findlaw.com.

READ MORE: The 30 Forgotten, Weird and Outdated Laws Still Punishable in Texas