page_title: Mucilage
section_title: Human uses
hierarchical_section_title: Mucilage / Human uses
caption_attribution_description: English: Bottle of "David's General Mucilage" from the first half of the 20th century. http://elmodo.mx/
context_page_description: Mucilage is a thick, gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion. The direction of their movement is always opposite to that of the secretion of mucilage. It is a polar glycoprotein and an exopolysaccharide. Mucilage in plants plays a role in the storage of water and food, seed germination, and thickening membranes. Cacti and flax seeds are especially rich sources of mucilage.
context_section_description: Mucilage is edible. It is used in medicine as it relieves irritation of mucous membranes by forming a protective film. It is known to act as a soluble, or viscous, dietary fiber that thickens the fecal mass, an example being the consumption of fiber supplements containing Psyllium seed husks.
  Traditionally, marshmallows were made from the extract of the mucilaginous root of the marshmallow plant (Althaea officinalis). The inner bark of the slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), a North American tree species, has long been used as a demulcent and cough medicine, and is still produced commercially for that purpose.
  Mucilage mixed with water has been used as a glue, especially for bonding paper items such as labels, postage stamps, and envelope flaps.
  Differing types and varying strengths of mucilage can also be used for other adhesive applications, including gluing labels to metal cans, wood to china, and leather to pasteboard.
  During the fermentation of nattō soybeans, extracellular enzymes produced by the bacterium Bacillus natto react with soybean sugars to produce mucilage. The amount and viscosity of the mucilage are important nattō characteristics, contributing to nattō's unique taste and smell.
  The mucilage of two kinds of insectivorous plants, sundew (Drosera) and butterwort (Pinguicula), is used for the traditional production of a variant of the yoghurt-like Swedish dairy product called filmjölk.
caption: Glass container for mucilage, from the first half of the 20th century.
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