We were recently checking some surprising winter damage on one of our Schefflera delavayi specimens in the garden, and when we sliced open a stem, we found a lovely example of a chambered pith arrangement. Pith is a lightweight polystyrene like material, composed of parenchyma cells, and found in the center of stems of dicot plants. Pith is used by the plant to store starch. Since it is primarily prevalent in the new growth, it is occasionally comandered by inscects looking for a temporary, inexpensive, multi-level home. The outer layers, surrounding the pith are the Xylem (light wood color), and the outermost layer, the Phloem (dark brown). Some societies have extracted plant pith for food, for arts and crafts, as a base material for home tiki torches, and even for making human outerwear….think pith helmets. Ain’t nature grand!
Thank you for sharing this. Learning about Plant makes growing them so much more enriching.
VERY cool! Yep, Nature’s got the right ideas!!
Perfect for making ‘Insect Hotels’, or what – ?