Tree City U.S.A.

Cerritos is named Tree City U.S.A.; it does have a lot of trees, I suppose. I however, have driven across the nation a couple times and have seen substantially more trees in cities other than Cerritos. Now I don't mean to be critical of the city we chose to purchase our first piece of property, (a 900 square foot condo priced as much as a 4 bedroom house outside of California) so let's just assume Cerritos is a city with a propensity for foliage growth.

All this talk of trees seems odd considering the two pictures looming overhead are not trees. I apologize. I'm just attempting to justify the fact that this, "growth," pictured above is hanging down in a somewhat flacid state from our neighbors patio. Is it there because it was intentionally planted? Do these things grow in places other than in Tree City U.S.A.? What is it used for? Is it actually food? I'm dumbfounded...

Aside from the obvious phallic comments, can anyone help me understand what the hell that is and provide a theory for how it got there?