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A 22-year-old patient presents for a colonoscopy to confirm a diagnosis of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. He has been suffering from crampy abdominal pain with watery diarrhea with admixture of blood and mucus for several weeks. During the endoscopy, a typical picture of mucosal damage by these autoimmune inflammations is described and a biopsy is taken for histological examination, which finally establishes the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis is a rare autoimmune type of inflammation of the digestive system that typically affects the mucosa and submucosa of the rectum and colon. Which of the descriptions offered describes the normal appearance of the colonic mucosa?