This fibrous little thing has the same exfoliating capabilities of your favorite loofah hanging in your shower. But what exactly is it, and where the heck did it come from?
Answer
Bur cucumber seed pod.
Each bur cucumber (Echinocystis lobata) fruit contains a porous, rough-textured, four-chambered seed pod. The flowers and fruit (which are inedible) grow on long vines that you’ll find growing among thickets in moist wood edges, stream banks, and fencerows.
Loofahs – the kind many use to exfoliate dry skin in the shower – come from tropical gourds in the cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae. Bur cucumbers also belong to this family, so it’s no surprise the fruit contains miniature loofas.
This week’s winner is Paul Fillion, who not only correctly identified the seed pod, but went the extra mile to identify the copper penny.
This week’s contest winner was Paul Fillion of Colebrook, NH