Angular Collenchyma Cells (Thick-Corner Cells)

Strong corners, bendy body

Collenchyma cells are living cells that help hold plants up. In the angular kind, the walls are thin along the sides but extra thick at the corners, where three or four cells meet.

They are often long and lined up in bundles just under the skin of young stems and leaf stalks.

A famous place to find them is celery. The stringy ridges along the outside of a celery stalk have lots of them.

Strong but bendy support

Young plants need support that can bend without snapping and can keep growing. Collenchyma is perfect for that, because the cells stay alive and their walls can stretch as the plant gets longer.

Their walls are made of stretchy plant fibers called cellulose, plus a jelly-like material called pectin that holds water.

Angular collenchyma quiz