The key difference between collenchyma and sclerenchyma is that collenchyma is a type of live plant cell that has irregularly thickened primary cell walls while sclerenchyma is a type of dead plant cell that has heavily thickened secondary walls.
There are three types of ground tissues in plants. They are parenchyma, collenchyma, and sclerenchyma. Parenchyma cells are the generalized plant cell and make up the bulk of ground and vascular tissues. They are alive at maturity and help in photosynthesis and storage. Collenchyma is another type of ground tissues that have irregularly thickened primary cell walls. Generally, they are also live cells that provide support and structure. The third type, sclerenchyma, are mainly dead cells that have heavily thickened secondary cell walls. They provide rigidity to the plant. This article will discuss the difference between collenchyma and sclerenchyma.
