Citron Melon

Thnx Misako!!

congrats on your 1000th spotting! :)

Those yellow flowers will also become melons! You could look around and see if there are more in the area, they grow in sandy areas. Some wildlife may have had that melon for breakfast this morning? Your welcome on the recipe I like bread and butter pickles! :)

Somebody plucked the melon:((
I am a big fan of pickle. Thanks for the recipe!

Thats very cool Emma!! I have been looking for these Citron melons all summer to photograph! They are white on the inside, in the south , people would preserve and pickle these. I have ate them and they taste like water. If you do get one and take it home, save the seeds to replant. Heres a link for recipes, I recently ate some pickled melon and it was very good like sweet and sour pickles! http://www.eattheweeds.com/www.EatTheWee...

@ Arun and @ aunt nance123, There is such a similarity between the "Citrullus colocynthis " and "Citron/tsamma" ,that they are often confused. The leaves ,the flowers,the hairy stems!! The similarity is spooky! Both are great ID suggestions.
The only visible distinguishing feature i could find is the size, the mature fruit of " Citrullus colocynthis" is Lemon sized.
This spotting which I found was the size of an Apple.
Both are related species.
There are more similarities than differences.
Based on the difference of Size, @ aunt nance and @ arun is it logical to identify this spotting as "Citron/tsamma" ?

currently it is the size of an apple. I added a picture of its flower and tendrils etc

@pyoung Thnx for all the feedback. Will have to do a lot of reading before I come to some conclusion!! Will keep you updated! :))

There is a lot of heirloom water melons and desert water melons grown by the native American tribes this may be a hopi watermelon.
The Yellow-meated watermelon is also known as Gepi by the Tohono O�??odham people and as Sikyatko by the Hopi people. Watermelons were among the most important crops to the Piman and Hopi peoples, who ate them for six months of the year in the dry Arizona climate. The large oval watermelons have mottled green skin and bright orange-yellow meat. The prolific vines sprawl in all directions and are able to survive the high summer temperatures that are common to the desert environment

http://www.nativeseeds.org/index.php/sto...

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/pro...

Here is 2 pages of Native American Watermelon that grow in your region! I am interested in heirloom plants. :)

http://www.nativeseeds.org/index.php/sto...

Thanks @ pyoung,I will certainly ask the county.
I am equally curious about its insides!!
Wow ,i have 3 ID suggestions on this one. Will read a little more and finalise.
Thnx again.I plan to Id some of your stuff too.

Oh, Emma don't get yourself sick!! I was thinking about it today, that if it was a gourd, you could save the seeds and replant it.
You could also contact your county extension office or university that deals with plants, horticulture and ask them about it? I will look online again and see what I can find.

Sorry, Emma... I never heard of it. But, then, we don't have any "desert type" plants here in Sonoma County at all. Too wet. Too foggy. Also hard to tell size from photo. :o)

@pyoung ,because it is so poisonous, I might have to put on my gloves,mask etc etc!

Could you cut it open? So we can see what the inside looks like Emma?

Thanks for the ID Arun. This is a poisonous plant. Fortunately we do not have cattle grazing around.

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/642...
this is my spotting of squash in unexpected place!

@ jean and @ Heather,looks like a lot of bee activity going on too. I found squash plants in unexpected places too!

Yup... Heather hit it on the head! There are no "native watermelons" in CA as far as I know. That's pretty cool, though -- up here in Sonoma County, it never gets hot enough to grow very good watermelon at all... Certainly not that would "volunteer" like this guy seems to have!

Someone was spittin' seeds as they walked their dog in your neighborhood probably, and there you have it...75-90 days later a volunteer watermelon.

@ jean any idea if this is a native melon?

@pyoung that is a good question!

Thats Awesome! Is it a watermelon or a native melon?