<正> The macro-micro-anatomy of the lingual artery of 25 adult cadavers wasstudied.The origin of the artery is rather concentrated and the greater cornu of thehyoid bone can be used as the indicator.The entrance of the artery into the hyoglossusmuscle is almost constantly along the posterior border of the muscle

where the artery issuperficially located and easily to be exposed

and has a constant relationship with thevein and hypoglossal nerve.Thus the lingual artery can be used as the artery of a recipientarea in case of tongue reconstruction.The deep lingual artery has two types ofbranches;the short ones mainly supply the muscles of tongue while the long ones mainlysupply the mucosa by forming a submucosal network.In the muscles of tongue

minutearterioles run tortuously along the muscular fibers with abundant anastomoses betweeneach other

but no anastomosis is found to cross over the rnidline of the tongue.Be-neath the mucosa

there is an arterial network spreading all over the whole tongue notlimited to one side.The relationship of the arterial architecture to the structure and thefunctions of the tongue and its clinical significance were discussed.