What is this? - Ask Extension
This is growing in my garden along with my other known vine plants. We think the seeds were in the wrong package. I looks like a giant zucchini but ...
Knowledgebase
What is this? #942200
Asked August 11, 2026, 8:06 PM EDT
This is growing in my garden along with my other known vine plants. We think the seeds were in the wrong package. I looks like a giant zucchini but on a vine with a stem like a pumpkin. I cut it open and it smells similar to pumpkin. My PlantNet app identified it as Bitter Bottle gourd which is poisonous.
Hennepin County Minnesota
Expert Response
The plant might be a kind of zucchini. Incredible Escalator is a trailing variety.
Or it may have grown from a cross-pollinated (non-hybrid) squash seed. The characteristics of fruit borne by such plants are various and unpredictable.
If the vine is still producing fruit, harvest and taste test one that's small and tender and assess its palatability.
Learn more here:
https://lancaster.unl.edu/weird-squash-pollination-gone-wrong/
Or it may have grown from a cross-pollinated (non-hybrid) squash seed. The characteristics of fruit borne by such plants are various and unpredictable.
If the vine is still producing fruit, harvest and taste test one that's small and tender and assess its palatability.
Learn more here:
https://lancaster.unl.edu/weird-squash-pollination-gone-wrong/
If the Plant Net id gives you pause, disregard my taste test suggestion.
