areole (adj. areolate)
1. The space between veins of a leaf or a similar partition. 2. A small pit or cavity marked out upon a surface. 3. The area from which hairs, spines, flowers, or branches may arise in Cactaceae.
Areole
A small cushion-like structure found on a some cacti, which is covered in small hairs and spines.
Aristate ...
AREOLE -- A small well-defined area, usually hairy and cushion-like, found on the stem of cacti. From them arise spinesorglochids.
ASEXUAL -- Vegetative reproductions - e.r. cuttings and division.
Note that cacti plants possess special organs called areoles. On the fleshy, generally leafless stem there are latent points for growth. These usually bear cushions of wool or occasionally bristly hairs known as glochids.
Lots of fine spines and dense areoles cover the pads of this prickly wonder. Large, chalice-shaped flowers of clear yellow or orangish-red appear in late spring or early summer, and brownish-red fruit follows later in the season.
Virtually all cacti originate in the Americas, they only store water in the body of the plant, and they all have an areole, a tiny woolly area around the base of the spine.
The spines grow from an areole covered with glochids, which are tiny, barbed spines characteristic of all Opuntia. Glochids detach very easily on contact and cause intense skin irritation.
 See also: Spine, Plant, Spines, Gardening, Grow
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