Dianna,

Probably not a concern. I checked with USDA and they require all imported niger (Guizotia abyssinica) to be sterilized before entry into the US. The Port of New York is the designated port for inspection. However USDA also indicated that most of it actually grown in the US. I see the bag I have says it is a product of Illinois, USA.

For those who may interested in the history of the plant read on. The rest (probably majority) of you can delete now.

This is a really interesting plant that is native to Ethiopia bit is widely cultivated in the US as well as Africa, Asia, and Australia. It?s primary commercial use is for vegetable oil and the bird feeding industry. In India and Africa is a major source of cooking oil. It is a small annual herb that is not very closely related to thistles at all. The word nyger is actually a registered trademark of the US Wild Bird Feeding Industry Association (have to admit that one was new to me). Use of the name is actually illegal unless licensed by them. The plant itself is known as either Guizotia, ramtilla, or niger. Niger is simply Latin for black and refers to the seeds. Concern over confusion with a certain racial slur is the reason for spelling with y although it is never spelled that way outside of the US bird feeding industry. I did a Google image search of Guizotia abyssinica and a number of nice pictures it is a rather pretty yellow flower reminiscent of daisies or asters. I hope at least a couple of you found this as interesting as I did and Happy Thanksgiving.

Mike
Colville, WA

From: Dianna Moore
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 7:31 PM
To: tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] pine siskin numbers

Hey Tweets...I received an e-mail promo from Wild Birds Unlimited in Gig Harbor (Hi Jim!) with a piece about reports of greater numbers of Pine Siskins showing up at feeders around the Puget Sound and eating huge amounts of seed...especially their favorite, nyjer (though I have read it is not a thistle as reported). I quit feeding the little buggers a few years ago when the cost of the seed quadrupled.

In an interesting aside, it seems the only port of entry in the U.S. is New York City/New Jersey; does that mean the cost will rise even higher thanks to Sandy?

Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters