This seems creepy enough for a pre-Halloween #WhatsItWednesday, doesn’t it?

@timapple Nope.

@cliffordbeshers the top portion seems to be a spiny vine, it reminds me of a squash plant vine. The lower portion being a squash of some sort that it started to shrink and rot a bit.

@Denny Neither vine nor squash, but shrinking plant is right.

@cliffordbeshers Ah, the first authenticated photograph of Cthulhu!

@cliffordbeshers Wow. Really surprised it’s not a fungus. Is it a cactus of some kind? Can’t wrap my head around the fact that is seems to be growing downward in this photo.

@ayjay I am extremely tempted to say “Ding ding ding!” And ignore all other responses.

@fgtech Edit, not a cactus, but you might be forgiven for lumping it into that family.

Wrong —>. it is in the cactus family.

@fgtech I should also say, not a fungus, but there might be fungus or mold visible.

@cliffordbeshers I am totally out of my element with cacti. Makes sense that there might be surface mold… that must be what’s making it look like fungus.

@cliffordbeshers Seeing mention of cactus, it occurred to me that it might be a dehydrated aloe. Just this morning I trimmed off some of the shriveled leaves on my plant and they looked exactly like the top portion of the photo. I think if I'd done that trimming before I saw your photo I might have had the thought.

@Denny Not aloe, but you are in the neighborhood.

@fgtech Also, cameras have six degrees of freedom, and a photographer looking for #whatsItWednesday material might deliberately choose an unusual viewing angle.

@cliffordbeshers Declaring myself stumped.

@timapple @Denny @ayjay @fgtech This is the base of a withering agave leaf. Often, these dying leaves are trimmed off by caretakers, but normally they flatten out on the ground and wither.

A healthy blue agave.

Unhealthy

Fuzzy photo of the actual plant in this puzzle

@cliffordbeshers Ah, good to know! I had no guess after my first one.

@cliffordbeshers Ahh! Agave. Big fan of the syrup and tequila, but I am not so familiar with the plant itself. I had the scale all wrong in my head and those brown leaves looked like timbers in your devious crop. Thank you for a fun challenge! I like it when I learn something.