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It is about 8cm tall and used to be green but is now slowly going white...

Is it some form of tumour?

Weird Cucumber Growth

Edit

Here is the picture of the whole cucumber (for you disbelievers). The growth can be found on the top left and you can find a growing cucumber on the bottom of the same plant:

Whole Cucumber

Split up into the segments, it looks like this:

Segment split

I have cut up the segments. While cutting, there was a distinct smell of cucumber - the same as when slicing a normal example of the fruit. You can also see some of the wet interior has some shared features with that of a cucumber.

Dissected

I have also found a hole that could possibly be evidence of an insect being present at some stage of development of this growth, suggesting that Giacomo Catenazzi's answer may be right:

Insect hole?

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  • 1
    It is a sort of tumour, because tumour just means a collection of abnormal cells, often forming a 'growth' or 'lump', malignant or benign. I'd like to have seen the flower and early formation on this, but suffice it to say the genetic information for this particular fruit got scrambled, and this is the result. Sometimes caused by damage at an early stage, or a random mutation. Alien looking thing, isn't it, not pleasant to look at...
    – Bamboo
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 10:00
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    It might not necessarily be very pleasant, but I find this thing really interesting!
    – Michal Paszkiewicz
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 10:17
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    Yea, I agree, I did try to edit my comment to add in the fact it is also fascinating, but left it too long
    – Bamboo
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 10:21
  • I see that you told @Giacomo Catenazzi you'd dissect this later. When you do, it would be great to see some pictures of what you find, and also a broader view of the whole cucumber. I agree too that it looks fascinating!
    – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 19:23
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    Thanks for these excellent photos! I only grow flowers, so unfortunately I can't help you, but the pictures should definitely provide assistance for those who can, either now or later.
    – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
    Commented Jul 14, 2017 at 16:04

2 Answers 2

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Remove it. I don't think it is a tumor. Tumor are relatively rare in vegetables, because of short lifetime, and having a lot (really a lot) more genes.

I think it is caused by insects (or other animals, or maybe also weather), which damages and blocked the central part. The other part grow "inorganically" around damages part.

But are you sure it is a cucumber? The skin (rest of flower) doesn't look like cucumber (and the green stem)

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  • Thank you for your answer - I will definitely cut this off shortly. It's definitely a cucumber - there are cucumbers growing on the rest of the plant. I will dissect it when I get home today to see what is going on inside and whether there are blockages...
    – Michal Paszkiewicz
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 8:47
  • I have uploaded some photos of the dissected plant in the question's edit section. I believe you may have been right, although I will wait a few days to see if there are any alternative theories before accepting this answer. Thank you very much!
    – Michal Paszkiewicz
    Commented Jul 14, 2017 at 6:55
  • It looks like a unfertilised fruit- best removed basically allow the plants energy to go to better fruit production- you might have a problem with setting of the flowers- best to chose all female plants next time.
    – olantigh
    Commented Jul 15, 2017 at 20:44
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I believe your cucumber has Neurofibromatosis Type 1. I'm no expert, but... If not that, it could be Proteus syndrome.

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