What is "sclerenchyma"

Sclerenchyma \Scle*ren"chy*ma\, n. [NL., from Gr. sklhro`s hard + -enchyma as in parenchyma.]

1. (Bot.) Vegetable tissue composed of short cells with thickened or hardened walls, as in nutshells and the gritty parts of a pear. See Sclerotic.

   Note: By recent German writers and their English translators, this term is used for liber cells.
   --Goodale.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The hard calcareous deposit in the tissues of Anthozoa, constituting the stony corals.

n. 1 (context botany English) A mechanical, supportive ground tissue in plants consisting of aggregates of cells having thick, often mineralized walls 2 (context zoology English) The hard calcareous deposit in the tissues of Anthozoa, constituing the stony corals.