A doctor will determine the underlying cause of dry mouth in the patient and then take steps to minimize the underlying cause, such as stopping a medication causing the dry mouth. For many individuals, however, little can be done to alter the underlying cause.
The carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh. The most commonly eaten part of a carrot is a taproot, although the greens are sometimes eaten as well. It is a domesticated form of the wild carrot Daucus carota, native to Europe and southwestern Asia. The domestic carrot has been selectively bred for its greatly enlarged and more palatable, less woody-textured edible taproot.
A dandelion taproot (left) with the plant (right) The edible, orange part of the carrot is its taproot. A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot is a storage organ so well developed that it has been cultivated as an edible plant, for which its storage capacity has been exaggerated by selection for size and palatability. The taproot system contrasts with the adventitious or fibrous root system of plants with many branched roots, but many plants that grow a taproot during germination go on to develop branching root structures, although some that rely on the main root for storage may retain the dominant taproot for centuries, for example Welwitschia.