Gomphocarpus physocarpus young fruit

The nearly spherical Gomphocarpus physocarpus fruit is inflated and cream-surfaced. When young, the fruit is sparsely but fairly evenly covered in long, green protrusions or spines, thread-like and soft. The spines in picture grow partly scattered, partly in rows. They are rarely to never straight. The pods are up to 6 cm in diameter (Pooley, et al, 2025; Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).