Does an immature watermelon have stickers?

I have a vine that came up voluntarily and looks like a watermelon vine. It has produced small fruits from yellow flowers that look like watermelons except they're covered with stickers. Is this a watermelon or a thorny weed?

Does an immature watermelon have stickers?
a thorny weed
Reply:It's probably a watermelon. Try eating it.
Reply:you can easily tell if the stickers are scratch and sniff
Reply:you say small fruits? if still immature let it ripen - the watermelons are either their usual size, or they are not watermelons but something else of the cucumber family - the vines look pretty the same whether it is melon, watermelon, cucumber, zucchini=courgette, pumpkin, or something wild. keep an eye on it what it develops into. i think all the fruit in this family have prickly hairs when young. You will recognize a melon when ripe, ok?
Reply:It could be something called an African Horned Cucumber (aka Kiwano or Jelly Melon).

Very juicy flesh without a bitter taste.To eat, cut in halves,spice with salt and lemon and then scoop out. Can also be mixed with tomatoes. Ripens in September.
Reply:My answer kind of depends on where you live. If you were on the west coast, I'd guess it's the common native wild cucumber (Marah sp.), which is cool but some consider a weed. It's hard to get rid of once established, but dies back to the root every fall.

What did the flowers look like? Squash and melon flowers are generally a couple inches across, and wild cucumber less than an inch.

Here's a picture of wild cucumber.
Reply:Sounds like a squash or lemon cumcumber.
Reply:yes
Reply:Yes, most definetly, all children love stickers, especially those little yellow smiley stickers from the old people who work at wal-mart. Why should a young watermelon be any different?
Reply:No watermelons have stickers, I am right now growing the plant from which watermelon was domesticated and it is smooth as can be, though cucumbers have very similar flowers and vining habits and they can be quite spiny. The melon and squash family (curcubits) hybridize well though, so you may be surprised with what you get, could be nothing recognizable.
Reply:Perhaps wait until the fruit ripens and see if the fruit looks like a watermelon? If not, pick it and show it to a horticulturist (someone who studies or raises plants) and they might be able to tell you what it is.



Though if it grew in the spot where everyone was spitting watermelon seeds at the picnic last year... Y'never know! ;o]

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