Anybody know what plant this is? It's grown over to my patio.

[raccoon]

[Chan790]

1. That looks like a squash of some sort.

They all have the same general yellow huge 5-pedal flowers...so do pumpkins.

Butternut, maybe? Too late in the season for most squash to flower.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. melon, looks like.

way too big for a cuke.
And it is viney.
Size of it suggests a melon. Probably watermelon.
don't know where you are, I assume you have very warm weather.

[raccoon]

18. Yep. zone 7. nt

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Looks like a cucumber type thing --

from the blossom, but the leaves are a bit different.

[Chan790]

4. A photo comparison.

You have three interesting possible answers thus far so let's compare them to see what fits best with your exemplar. All three are sexed plants, which is odd because non-sexed plants are a vast majority. Males will have pistils (these look like dusty single grains of rice on long stems), but females will have only stamen (that's a single big thing in the center of the flower, usually sticky on the end to the touch. Both males and females have stamen, but usually the stamen of male-flowers are stunted.)

Can you get a better picture of the center of the flower?


Squash (Female. Butternut.)


Cucumber (Female)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GAW55yyCVoI/SGW0rWNgu3I/AAAAAAAAAcg/HrjXB4JStqQ/s400/Bitter+Melon+Flower+2.jpg
Bitter Melon (Female)

Edit: corrected scientific fact. Females have no pistils. Males and Females have stamen...usually.

[Kingofalldems]

5. I vote #1 based on flower shape.

[seabeyond]

6. pumpkin? nt

[suninvited]

7. my vote is some kind of winter squash

[MiddleFingerMom]

8. Triffid. n/t

[surrealAmerican]

43. That is the best "bad" sci-fi movie ever.

I loved how salt water, the most common substance on earth, was their downfall.

[WinkyDink]

9. Audrey.

[elleng]

12. FEED ME!!!

[applegrove]

10. It's alive!!!

[rug]

11. It's a face-eating cabbage.

[GoCubsGo]

13. It's probably a gourd of some sort.

They are notorious for springing up as volunteers.

http://www.justgourds.com/Gourd%20Info/gourdflowers.htm

Gourds and squashes are very closely related, and this plant is definitely from that family. It will be interesting to see if it sets fruit before the first frost kills it off.

[blueamy66]

14. SQUASH!!!

looks like the craziness that is in my backyard right now!! :-)

[sakabatou]

15. Kudzu?

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Below is pic of kudzu leaf and flower.

The flowers strongly smell like grape jelly, and some people DO make jelly out of them.

[sakabatou]

29. OK, so a joke went awry.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. oh...hard to hear a joke online with out some sign tis a joke.

[sakabatou]

44. *sigh* It's a reference to the very popular Kudzu thread on DU

[NewJeffCT]

46. I'm bullish on your response - it's going places

:hide:

[blogslut]

16. All I can say is

One of those took root in front of the apartment next to me and when it did, my landlord cursed it, claiming it would engulf the whole yard if left alone. He cuts it down and it grows right back. He said it was some sort of wild squash/weed thing.

[struggle4progress]

17. Less-Uncommon Carnivorous Arcturan Podfoot. Probably escaped from the penal colony on Rigel.

You'll need to get yourself about twenty-five pounds of garlic salt and a flame-thrower

[raccoon]

19. Thanks for the responses! To me looks like some of the gourd flowers in

the link given in response #13.

[TK421]

25. response # 24

edited to add: I'll bet money that this is what you've got there...and grab some if you can!

My sister introduced me to these sometime last year, and they are quite good!

[TreasonousBastard]

20. Some form of curcurbit, which includes...

melons like cantaloupes and muskmelons and winter squashes like butternut and pumpkins-- they're all related.

I don't recognize the leaves, but I had hundreds of those big yellow flowers when I tried to grow a field of squashes and melons. Squash flowers are edible, btw, and can be fried, sauteed, used in soups or eaten raw in salads.

I would transplant that thing into at least a larger pot, feed and water it well, and see what you get when it fruits.

[raccoon]

21. If it has any fruits. I think the slugs are eating all the blossoms. nt

[TreasonousBastard]

33. If you can stop the slugs from eating the flowers...

or cure whatever else is killing the flowers off, you will notice at the base of some flowers, probably the females, little bulges that eventually become the squashes or melons.

They need a LOT of water and some plant food, and they are shallow rooted but could probably use a bigger pot. If the fruits do grow, they will have to rest on the ground.

[raccoon]

35. Thanks for that info.

"If the fruits do grow, they will have to rest on the ground."

Duh! I didn't think of that.

[sinkingfeeling]

22. Squash gets my vote.

[TK421]

24. It looks like a spaghetti-squash blossom...here is a googled pic

[raccoon]

28. Looks just like it! nt

[TK421]

26. I would like to add that growing spaghetti squash has become very popular

in the last five or six years. I think some people are catching on to it

[Liberal Veteran]

27. I'm not a botanist, but I am fairly certain it is a Body Snatcher.

Whatever you do, don't fall asleep!

[TK421]

30. yeah...we all know what happens then!

[Liberal Veteran]

31. That's a different variant. Here is what happens with this variant.

[TK421]

36. "FUCK IT...WE'RE DOIN' IT LIVE"!!!!! FUCKING THING DOESN'T WORK!!!

classic meltdown right there...fucking classic meltdown!

[LynneSin]

34. Or this......

[TK421]

37. Funny that this OP seems to be centered around vegetables...

this is oh-so-fitting!

[slay]

32. It's not marijuana

damnit. :evilgrin:

[TK421]

38. I don't think there would be a picture of it if it was!

right? same wavelength?

[slay]

39. Gotcha

wink wink, nod nod.. ;) :hippie: :evilgrin:

[LiberalEsto]

41. zucchini or yellow squash nt

[whistler162]

42. Its a Audrey jr...... RUN!!!

[Bake]

45. Don't know for sure, but I bet you can dry it and smoke it!

:hi:

Bake