Bad news but interesting observations

[Roy]

These are terrible images and at this point I must warn those delicate ladies with Forbie Disorder to cast their eyes away!
Having spent the day flogging my heart out after answering that most terrible of phone calls the usually begins "Dad can you just......." (all males over 40 probably know what terror that strikes into a mans heart!).
Exhausted and near to collapse (I exaggerate slightly) my eyes settled on the Euphorbia obesa cristate in a 10" pot.
For once in my life I had failed to apply the rule of "tough ****". With the approach of winter I had let my guard down and taken pity on this plant and brought it inside to relax next to my computer. To my horror I could now see part of the plant had developed what looked very much like dry rot.
After considering the situation for several milliseconds it occurred to me I should find a scalpel blade and cut out the effected part and try to stop the rot. This I did.
I know this will surprise you but I suddenly thought " why not cut it up and look at the structure?". By now I had slowed down a little and it took me a second, possibly two.
I have not cut up a cristate Euphorbia before so what I found might be normal but I was surprised to find the stems had voids in them. I thought that this might just be tears in the tissue caused by over watering but on close inspection the inside of the voids seemed to be lined with the type of cell that normally form the epidermis, all be it without the chlorophyll.
The two sections at the top show the internal and external surface of one of the voids and the lower material just shows typical sections through the material.



Post Edited (01-07-07 22:11)

[Julie]

You know, I always wondered what was inside them! From the pic here a while ago of a beheaded one that was the bottom half of a failed graft I gathered they're not segmented like citrus fruits which I had often wondered.

I think those pockets are a part of the plant rather than damage - especially the bottom right piece looks far too ordered and the inner surface parallel to the outer surface.

I hate to ask it... but what does the inside of a normal forby look like? Is it all squashy white flesh the same throughout? Ther must be some kind of structure. Do they have the same kind of 1-D veins which cacti have?

I hope you washed your hands and tools, Roy! :p

[Cactus Jack]

Roy i totally sympathise with the first couple of sentence's 8-}

[Julie]

Yet more reasons to be glad I don't have children.. it's hard enough looking after parents!

I will have a niece in a few months, so I'm sure she will keep me occupied. It will be some time before she calls me to ask for lifts, loans and so on.