Cancellous bone. Close-up of normal cancellous (spongy) bone from a human femur (thigh bone). Bone tissue is either compact, or cancellous; both forms are usually present in any particular bone of the body. Cancellous bone is characterised by the arrangement of bone tissue as an open honeycomb. It consists of trabeculae (bars) and spicules of bone separated by large spaces which, in a living bone, contain the bone marrow.