Abstract:The distribution and development of mucilage cells of Anredera cordifolia (Tenore) Steenis were studied by using paraffin sectioning. The results showed that mucilage cells generally exist in stem, leaf and leaf stalk of A. cordifolia. They scattered single in the pith and cortex of stem, and existed in both palisade tissue and spongy tissue of leaf, which spongy tissue had more mucilage cells than palisade tissue. There was a few mucilage cells in leaf stalk distributed in cortexes around of vascular bundles. The development of mucilage cells could be divided into 4 stages, such as initial cell stage, vacuolation stage, mature stage, and disintegration stage. The mucilage cell originated in the sixth leaf primordium, and the development of mucilage cells are not synchronized to that of stem and leaf.
