Spongy tissue is a type of tissue found both in plants and animals. In plants, it is part of the mesophyll, where it forms a layer next to the palisade cells in the

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

. The spongy mesophyll's function is to allow for the interchange of gases () that are needed for

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

. The spongy mesophyll cells are less likely to go through photosynthesis than those in the palisade mesophyll. It is also the name of a disorder of fruit ripening which can reduce the value of a fruit yield, especially in

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

. In the alphonso mango variety, this problem is particularly common, giving soft, white, 'corky' tissue. Spongy tissue is also a type of animal tissue which contains smooth muscles, fibrous tissues, spaces, veins, and arteries. An example is the

corpus spongiosum penis The corpus spongiosum is the mass of spongy tissue surrounding the male urethra within the penis. It is also called the corpus cavernosum urethrae in older texts. Structure The proximal part of the corpus spongiosum is expanded to form the ...

. In bone, the spongy tissue is called

cancellous tissue A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provi ...

References

{{Reflist Plant anatomy Animal anatomy