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When the polyp dies the fleshy part decays, and the coral, which is the skeleton of the polyp, is left. It is very hard, being composed of carbonate of lime, and will last for ages. The inside of this tree that we are looking at is all dead coral, or corallum, while the flowers that are on the outside of the trunk and branches are the living animals.
Corallum beautifully stellular, formed by 30-35 slightly spirally-curving or regular radiating lamellae, which meet in a central point or overlap on a latitudinal axial line, and are divided by rectangular or outwardly convex and upwardly oblique dissepiments, which become, occasionally, indistinct or obsolete near the centre, thus not assuming the usual characteristic of Cyathophyllum, but rather one of Strombodes.
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