A Texas man was arrested today for violating the state law against picking bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas. Waco Police responded to reports of a man pretending to be a lawn mower while running through a field of bluebonnets. Horrified families that had stopped to pose for pictures at the field notified authorities.
Officers arrested the man, John A. Deere, 41 of Ding Dong, Texas for aggravated felonious herbicide, resisting arrest, and public intoxication. Deere was booked into the McLennan County Jail and held in lieu of $20,000 bond.
Seriously, don’t pick bluebonnets.
Photo: Jason Weingart
Of course, this is all just an April Fool’s joke. Contrary to popular belief it isn’t actually illegal to pick bluebonnets or any wildflowers in the state of Texas (unless it’s in a state or national park). However, harvesting them en masse is frowned upon.
While it actually isn’t illegal, picking more than one or two can hurt future blooms.
Photo: Jason Weingart
If the plants don’t complete their lifecycle, they won’t enter the seeding stage, which is when they drop their seeds for the following year. The more people that pick them, the less there will be for the following year. If everyone went around picking all of the bluebonnets they want, eventually there wouldn’t be any left for the rest of us.
