Pure ammonia is not recommended. It had pretty looking yellow flowers and the leaves looked like the melon family. This native annual grows to 2 feet high, has leaves 2 to 5 inches long with deep lobes and is covered with spines. Yellow, five-lobed flowers, common throughout the summer, are about 1 inch wide. The berry is enclosed by an enlarged calyx and contains many seeds.
Seeds are black, wrinkled and flattened.
Buffalobur is widely distributed in the Western United States. It is common on undisturbed wastelands and prairies. It grows on most soils, is drought-resistant and serves as a host for the Colorado potato beetle. It can be controlled with herbicides. I've noticed the leaves on my sycamore tree were turning brown, the way pear foliage looks when trees are infected with fireblight.