Toxic-smelling Mystery "Squash"

flowerfloozie, member

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Bizarre, toxic-smelling "squash"?

Bizarre, toxic-smelling "squash"?

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This bizarre plant grew out of nowhere in the middle of my vacant lot.  There is no water source yet it's incredibly green and now reaches 5 ft. across.  At first glance it resembles a squash with large 8-10" wide leaves, yet the yellow flower clusters are not like a squash [which has individual blossoms?].  The "fruit" starts out resembling a green squash but tapers into a strange, 6-7" growth with angular sides [not rounded].  The wierdest thing is that it oozes a sticky, toxic-smelling, goo when you touch it.  We are very intrigued at what this might be.  Thanks for any help. Lisa

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Gray-green leaves and stem

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some kind of digitalis?

Comments (4)

Vivagirl5 writes: Just like 2sad and Comarish59 said. It is indeed " Catclaw vine, devil's claw, Unicorn Plant or Ram's horn". All the names says the same plant.

If you go to:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/333/

and read all the comments, LOL, you would find that it is indeed what you are wondering about. They are a natived to the Southwest of the USA and tolerate very well to the heat and drought. Maybe that is why they grow so well and are doing so fine. Good Luck! Posted: 1:01 am on April 16th

Comarish59 writes: I think it might be a catclaw vine. I've never seen it with flowers that small, but there's a first time for everything. The "fruit" however, looks just as I remember it. Posted: 2:07 am on December 1st

2sad writes: It looks like a "unicorn" plant. Not edible, smells like a pile of natural fertilizer. We raised it as a decorative plant, the leaves look good. Posted: 4:14 pm on November 2nd

SandySquared writes: Altho I can't give a specific squash name, it has been my experience that squash grown from seeds taken from a squash itself, rather than a seed package can produce weird throw-backs before hybridization. The leaves may be a clue to the family of squashes, ie: rounded rather that indented like the zuchinnis. If this was an empty lot, this may be the result of natural reseeding if squash had been grown here in the past. Posted: 3:42 pm on October 19th

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