Honey, although collected and modified by insects, is rather a product of the vege table than of the animal kingdom. The same remark applies to a very different sub stance, the sea-weed gelatine of which certain swallows of the East Indies make their edible nests.
All the great divisions of the vegetable kingdom yield F. for man—the phanero gamous, however, much more largely than cryptogamous plants. Of the latter, the mosses • and hepatica contain no species that is used for this purpose; the same may almost be said of lichens, notwithstanding the tEipe-de-roche and Iceland moss; but numerous species of al,gce and of fungi are edible; and a few ferns supply unimportant articles of food. Of phanerogamous plants, it is impossible to say whether the endogenous or the exogenous are most important in this respect, notwithstanding the place of the cereal grasses among the former. The plants yielding F. are also distributedainong"many natural orders, although some, as graininea,' leguminosce, and cruciferce, contain a large number of the most useful species. The parts of plants which yield F. are very various: the roots and tubers, bulbs, etc., of some; the stems of others; leaves; flowers; the fleshy part of fruits; the seed, etc. The part which man appropriates to himself is either Used uncooked, or requires to be cooked in order to fit it for use. Sometimes, also, other previous preparations are necessary, as the grinding of corn, etc. Except in •the case of ferns, when the cryptogamous or acotyledonous plants are used for food, the whole plant is used, e.g., mushrooms, carrageen, Iceland moss. Sometimes no -part of the plant is itself fit for use, but it contains some substance which is, and which man extracts by suitable. processes, as in the case of arrow-root, sago, and other kinds of starch, sugar, etc. • The first place among articles of vegetable F. must be assigned to corn, the seeds of the cerealia (q.v.). The next place, perhaps, belongs to the potato and yam, after which come the banana, cassava or mandioc, and the different kinds of pulse.
Regarded more botanically, the articles of F..are— 1.. Roots, properly so called, of which the turnip, carrot, parsnip, beet and mangold, cocco or eddoes, may be mentioned as among the most important; but the number of esculent roots, and of roots yielding articles of F.,* is very great.
2. Tubers, of which the potato, yam, and batatas or sweet-potato, are the most important; with the cassava or mandioc and the arrow-root as yielding starch; but of which many others are also used, as the melloco (ullacus), the oca (oxalis), the earth- .
nut, etc. • 3. Rhizomes, or root-stocks, of which some are simply boiled, whilst others are chiefly valued for the starch (arrow-root, etc.) which they yield.
4. Bulbs, as those, of the onion, garlic, shallot, etc. The most important are allia ceous.
5. Stems, which, in some cases, are eaten along with the leaves, whether as salads or boiled vegetables; but of which some are more important as yielding sago and other kinds of starch. The eatable part of asparagus is a stem in the beginning of its growth, and the same statement applies to some other plants; the eatable part of kohlrabi is a peculiar swelling of the stem.
6. Leaves and leaf-buds, as those of kale and cabbage, with other greens of all sorts, spinach, lettuce, and all the other salads; the terminal buds of palms (palm-cabbage), etc.
7. Flowers and adjoining parts, as in cauliflower and artichoke.
S. Fruit (exclusive of seeds), used either as a principal article of F., as in the case of the banana, and, to some extent, of gourds, or more generally as an article of luxury. See FRUIT.
9. Seeds, of which the most important are those of the cereal grasses (see CEREALIA), along with which must be mentioned those of-buckwheat, quinoa, the lotus of the Nile and other water-lilies, the nelumbo, the water-chestnut and other species of many kinds of pulse, as peas, beans, lentils, kidney-beans, chick-peas, •etc., and nuts of,piany kinds, some of which, as the chestnut and cocoa-nut, afford, in some countries, substan tive and important articles of F., whilst the greater number are rather articles of occa sional use and of luxury. There are also other seeds which are capable of being used, and are occasionally used as food.
Sugar, which may well be reckoned among important articles of F., is obtained from the juice of stems; as of the sugar-cane, some palms, and the sugar-maple, and of roots, as of the beet, etc. Alcoholic beverages are obtained from vegetable substances and juices which contain sugar, or which, by some artificial process, are, in the first instance, converted into sugar; as the juices of fruits (the grape, apple, etc.), the juices of stems (the sugar-cane, palms, etc.), the juices of roots and tubers (beet-root, potatoes, etc.), and the seeds of the cereal plants (barley, rice, etc.).
Besides the substantive articles of F., and beverages more or less generally used, there are very many condiments, which are obtained from the vegetable kingdom, and of which the botanical sources are almost equally various, as mustard, pepper, ginger, cloves, capers, etc.