The roots of a thistle (Cersium virginianium, or Carduus virginianus), which are about the ordinary size of carrots, are also eaten by them.  They are sweet and well flavored, but require a long preparation to fit them for use.

The people of Southern India and Ceylon have for many hundred years been in the habit of eating the bulb or root, which is the first shoot from the Palmyra nut, which forms the germ of the future tree, and is known locally as Pannam kilingoes.  It is about the size of a common carrot, though nearly white.  It forms a great article of food among the natives for several months in the year; but Europeans dislike it from its being very bitter.  Recent experiments have proved that a farina superior to arrowroot can be obtained from it, prepared in the same way; and 100 roots, costing 21/2d., yield one and a-half to two pounds of the flour.

From the boiled inner bark of the Russian larch, mixed with rye flour, and afterwards buried a few hours in the snow, the hardy Siberian hunters prepare a sort of leaven, with which they supply the place of common leaven when the latter is destroyed, as it frequently is by the intense cold.  The bark is nearly as valuable as oak bark.  From the inner bark the Russians manufacture fine white gloves, not inferior to those made of the most delicate chamois, while they are stronger, cooler, and more pleasant for wearing in the summer.

The fruit of the Cycas angulata forms the principal food of the Australian aborigines during a portion of the year.  They cut it into thin slices, which are first dried, afterwards soaked in water, and finally packed up in sheets of tea-tree bark.  In this condition it undergoes a species of fermentation; the deleterious properties of the fruit are destroyed, and a mealy substance with a musty flavor remains, which the blacks probably bake into cakes.  They appear also to like the fruit of the Pandanus, of which large quantities were found by Dr. Leichardt in their camps, soaking in water, contained in vessels formed of stringy bark.

The flour obtained from the seeds of Spurry (Spergula sativa), when mixed with that of wheat or rye, produces wholesome bread, for which purpose it is often used in Norway and Gothland.  In New Zealand, before the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern were largely consumed.

Many species of Bolitus are used as food by the natives in Western Australia, according to Drummond.

The thick tuberous roots of a climbing species of bean (Pachyrhizus angulatus, or Dolichos bulbosus) are cultivated and eaten in some parts of the Polynesian islands.  The bulbous roots of some species of Orchideae are eagerly sought after in New South Wales by the natives, being termed “boyams,” and highly esteemed as an article of food for the viscid mucilage which they contain.  The root of the Berar (Caladium costatum) is eaten by the natives of the Pedir coast (Achin), after being well washed.