When I lived in Florida as a teenager, I was roaming around a wooded area (central Florida, Putnam County) and came across a small cactus around a foot or two high. I was curious what the inside of it was like and it didn't have very big spines to it, rather it was easy to grab it and avoid the spikes, however when I used my knife to cut the top off, I was met with very neatly aligned needles filling it. They were yellowish but clear and there were millions within the plant in neat rows lining the whole inside. Within seconds my whole body was coated in them and I quickly dropped the piece in my hand and ran home where I stripped and did everything I could to get the needles out of my skin and out of my clothes, but I ultimately had to throw away my clothes and seek help to get rid of the ones embedded in my skin. I have searched off and on since this only to find that cacti should be hollow or simply green inside. I am curious what this plant is, as I have had a severe fear of cacti since and fear that a cactus fruit is simply made of the same thing and will just fill my mouth with thousands of needles if I attempt to try it. I want to know if anyone can tell me what this plant was so that I can hopefully get over my fear but it looked like a small cactus.
