Is there a name for the interior structure of a cacti?

[graffiti]

Just got a flier from my favorite tropical greenhouse. It includes a decorative Tillandsias displayed in what they call 'cholla'. They describe cholla as "the dried interior of a cactus that looks like a wooden skeleton with holes throughout".

Now, I don't doubt that the thing that they're displayed in is the woody interior of a Cylindropuntia, but I've never heard of the general interior structure of a cacti being called cholla. Am I wrong?

[DaveW]

Guess it is just their shorthand to describe the plant it was derived from. As you say Cholla (pronounced choy-a I believe, as the double "L" is pronounced as a "Y" in Spanish?) is of course just a common name applied to the American cylindrical branching Opuntia's. I can't find any special name for plant skeletons, but for humans:-

"A skeleton that is internal is known as an endoskeleton. It is a bony and cartilaginous structure that comprises the axial and appendicular skeleton."

http://www.desertusa.com/cactus/cholla-cactus.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[iann]

Is there a name for the interior structure of a cacti?

Mush?

[graffiti]

Is there a name for the interior structure of a cacti?

Mush?

Chollas (and I'd assume all columnar cacti) have a woody skeleton inside, from all the pics I've seen.

[DaveW]

All cacti presumably will have some form of skeleton. Obviously the taller they get the stronger it will need to be:-

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cactu ... 4Q_AUIBygC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Many things you can think of nature got there first. The British WWII Wellington Bomber used a "Geodetic" construction that is similar to a Cholla skeleton as it provided strength but lightness:-

http://www.barneswallisfoundation.co.uk ... ft-design/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[greenknight]

Not all cacti have a solid woody skeleton, globular cacti don't - they have a type of wood that expands and contracts for water storage, their shape is maintained by the turgor pressure of the water. In columnar cacti this tissue undergoes a phase change when they get too tall for turgor pressure to support, the cells become fibrous and rigid. http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mauseth/resea ... i/Wood.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I imagine Mammillarias lack this phase change ability, since they flop over when they get too tall.