That would a Cucurbita Foetidissima, or Buffalo Gourd. Even if you don't know Latin, the name is pretty telling of what kind of a vegetable this is. "Fetid" indeed. Apparently these things are edible when young, green, and not yet yellow, but I was informed that once mature like this one, they taste as they smell. The bitterness is said to last for a while afterwards too. Native folks ate them when young and made a few uses out of them. They can clean grease spots off of wooden floors.
They do look a bit nice, though. They add to the ever present sages and yuccas anyway.
For some reason I never really noticed them until making my way through western Oklahoma. Maybe they just stood out more against the parched landscape.
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