# Can you identify this plant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232 "2009-07-16T16:53:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/1 "2009-07-16T16:53:53Z")
[What in the heck is it?](http://www.flickr.com/photos/wendyandrandy/sets/72157621555890810/) This plant volunteered in one of my planter boxes in the garden. I left it alone, thinking it was a watermelon vine. Instead, it grew UP and has put out thorns and flowers. It’s next to a basil plant, if that gives you a sense of scale. For those who can’t see it: – It’s about 12 inches tall – Leaves shaped sorta kinda like oak leaves, or watermelon leaves – Clusters of bright yellow flowers. When the flowers close, they develop into thorny balls. No idea what these will later become. – Thorns on the stems as well Could it be a mutant watermelon? Is it something else entirely? I’m too impatient to wait for the end of the summer. ETA: Damn. Can’t edit the spelling in my thread title. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/2 "2009-07-16T17:00:42Z")
I’d bet it’s some kind of squash plant, but I have no idea which one… ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/3 "2009-07-16T17:04:41Z")
Triffid ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/4 "2009-07-16T17:09:28Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Triffid Well, the apocolypse has to start somewhere. Might as well be my back yard. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/5 "2009-07-16T17:16:16Z")
It might be [this](http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=12665) – buffalo bur nightshade. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/6 "2009-07-16T17:25:57Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > It might be [this](http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=12665) – buffalo bur nightshade. Woah. That’s it. And apparently, it’s nasty (I guess the “nightshade” in its name should have been a giveaway, there). I have a wee little flock of chickens that I let roam around the yard, so I’ll dig it out ASAP, before they try nibbling on it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/7 "2009-07-16T17:28:53Z")
Yeah, that’s one scary-looking plant. Quite the defense system it’s got there. You should probably wear gloves when you pull it, and then salt the earth after. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/8 "2009-07-16T18:01:24Z")
Wow. I have never seen that plant in my life before until this year. I have several of them growing in my yard and was planning on getting rid of them this weekend. If I can be nosy, where are you **Beadalin**? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/9 "2009-07-16T18:22:23Z")
Not a plant expert, but I thought it looked kinda like the tomato plants my wife is growing on the balcony. Pleasantly surprised to see I’m not all that far off. Good luck getting it out of your planter! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/10 "2009-07-16T18:51:01Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > Wow. I have never seen that plant in my life before until this year. I have several of them growing in my yard and was planning on getting rid of them this weekend. If I can be nosy, where are you **Beadalin**? Nevermind, I see [here](http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch?keywordquery=Solanum+rostratum&mode=sciname&submit.x=16&submit.y=6) that this plant grows almost everywhere in North America… Strange how I have never come across it anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/11 "2009-07-16T18:58:05Z")
I know, I was surprised by the range, too. It’s labelled as noxious and invasive, so naturally it’s also really successful. Ugh. I had such hopes for it to be something tasty, too. And for what it’s worth, I am in Minneapolis, MN. ---
**Author:** ![old\_joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/58956e/32.png) [@old\_joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/old_joe)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-plant/503232/12 "2009-07-17T18:04:55Z")
its very close to the wild cucumber that I grow. Echinocystis lobata but yours is much more prickly looking.