I don't have any experience of the plant to share, but I've also noticed this item in seed catalogs this year. Territorial Seed Company offers it as Mexican Sour Gherkin. Those Mexican Sour Gherkins look interesting, but what really got my attention is one of its apparent relatives: the Jung Seed Co if offering something they call Deco-Mix Ornamental Cucumber (not for food purposes they say). The photo in the catalog shows round and oval fruits in several sizes. Some are smooth, some are covered with spines, some green, some striped in yellow orange and white. No botanical name is given. Does anyone grow the squirting cucumber, Ecballium elaterium? And gardening books from the early twentieth century sometimes illustrate two other forgotten curcurbits: Echinocystis lobata and Sicyos angulatus. From the photo I know best, Echinocystis seems to have real ornamental value (although it is apparently weedy in some areas). Now I wonder, are those Deco-mix Ornamental Cucumbers Echinocystis? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where things are starting to pop. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/