why are some plant stems really spiky? like cucumbers and squash

Question

this is my first year gardening and i absolutely love my plants like they are my children

i don’t wear gloves and i often forget that some of my plants hurt like hell when i touch them, like my cucumbers and my summer squash

why is it that they’re so prickly? especially my squash i feel like i can’t touch it anywhere except for the actual vegetable itself without getting poked whereas i don’t have that problem with other plant stems.

(sorry if it’s a dumb question i’m still learning about plants little by little!)

In: Biology

Answer 1

I’m pretty sure it’s because they want you to only touch the fruit. It’s (kind of) meant to be eaten, while other parts of the plant might be vital to it’s survival, so they don’t want anything to mess with them.