The tongue is the organ of taste. It owes this property to the taste buds, which are situated in the foliate, fungiform and vallate papillae in the mucouse membrane of the tongue, the oral face of epiglottis and anterior pillars of soft palate.
The taste buds are oval flask shaped masses, which occupy the recesses in the epithelium.
The base of each taste bud is wider and rests on the corium of the mucous membrane.
It receives a branch from the combined sensory nerve formed by the union of the chorda tympani of the VII nerve and the gustatory branch of the V nerve in the anterior two-thirds of the organ and from the lingual branch of the IX nerve if in the posterior-third.
The apex of each bud is narrow and communicates with the mouth cavity by a small gustatory pore.
Each bud presents a small opening towards the surface, the taste or gustatory pore.
The taste bud consists of fusiform supporting cells grouped around central taste or gustatory cells.
The taste cells are neuroepithelial cells. The external end of each taste cells bears a filament, the gustatory hair which projects through the gustatory pore.
The internal end of the taste cells ends in a fine process, which may be single or branched.
Taste buds are innervated by gustatory fibres of glossopharyngeal, facial and vagus nerves.