Papillae on tongue, coloured historical artwork. On the tongue most tastebuds, the structures that provide information about the taste of food, sit on small platforms called papillae. There are different types of papillae; the central papilla here is a fungiform papilla, so called because of its mushroom-like shape. They are highly vascular and well innervated (blood vessels are shown in red and blue, nerves in white). This illustration is taken from the 19th century French textbook The Atlas of Human Anatomy and Surgery by J. M. Bourgery and N. H. Jacob.