Near the end of this past spring, I had two volunteer plants pop up in the corner of my small garden. I'm always curious about what's coming up on it's own so if I have the room for it I'll let it do it's thing. It looked like some sort of squash/gourd or possibly a melon. A ground crawling vine, with squash-looking blossoms. The excessive heat here in Southern California has really cooked the garden and I hadn't really been taking care of the mystery vine, so when it started going in to decline, I decided to rip it out. Only one fruit had survived the summer heat. I thought it was perhaps a buffalo squash, endemic to the area, but it doesn't seem to the characteristics of Cucurbita foetidissima, nor did the leaves resemble Cucurbita foetidissima's foliage. So, I have this fruit and have no idea what it is. It had small spikey hairs on it before I brought it in and washed it up; the fruit is about 4 inches [10cm] across. I have not cut it open just yet, thinking I'd ask the community first and perhaps enjoy having it as is for a short while. Will cut it open in a day or two and share another photo with you all.
