How does the appendix function?

Not very well. It has no widely acknowledged function. (However see the appendices to this answer.) It does seem to malfunction frequently.( see appendix 1) The appendix is analogous to the caecum in some other animals, in animals that eat the tougher parts of plants, (leaves, stems, etc.) it functions as a storage sac where fermentation of cellulose by symbiotic bacteria takes place.But in humans the opening into the appedix from the digestive system closes by mid adulthood.
Appendices
Appendix one -"Its major importance would appear to be financial support of the surgical profession." Alfred Sherwood Romer and Thomas S. Parsons ;The Vertebrate Body (1986)
Appendix two-"The appendix of the colon is a part of the caecum and is capable of contracting and dilating so that excessive wind does not rupture the caecum." Leonardo da Vinci
Appendix three-"The mucosa and submucosa of the appendix are dominated by lymphoid nodules, and its primary function is as an organ of the lymphatic system." Frederic H. Martini, Ph.D.; Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology; Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, (1995).
Appendix three-It functions a s a trap, " Don't you swallow those unpopped corn kernels, they'll get stuck in your appendix and fester and it'll have to come out of there." My Grandmother, Cautions and Warnings; Trent, Texas, (many times in the '50's)

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