The subterraneous parts of the holoparasite, Cistanche deserticola, was extracted with methanol and the easily extractable polysaccharides were isolated from the insoluble residue using in succession cold water, hot water, 0.5 M NaOH, and 0.01 M EDTA. Based on the data of sugar composition analysis, methylation analysis and NMR spectroscopy, it was shown that the bulk of the easily extractable polysaccharides was composed of starch-like alpha-1,4-D-glucan, alpha-L-arabino-3,6-beta-D-galactan, pectic polysaccharides and 4-O-methyl-D-glucurono-D-xylan.