The Beet (Beta vulgaris) is a flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to the coasts of western and southern Europe, from southern Sweden and the British Isles south to the Mediterranean Sea.
It is a herbaceous biennial or perennial plant with leafy stems growing to 1-2 m tall. The leaves are heart-shaped, 5-20 cm long on wild plants (often much larger in cultivated plants). The flowers are produced in dense spikes, each flower very small, 3-5 mm diameter, green or tinged reddish, with five petals; they are wind-pollinat ...
The root and leaves of subsp. vulgaris are edible and an important food crop. Numerous cultivars have been selected and bred for several different characteristics; the major Cultivar Groups are:
Beetroot or table beet (or, in the 19th century, "blood turnip") used as a root vegetable.
Fodder beet wurzel or mangold used as animal fodder.
Sugar beet grown for sugar.
Chard, a beet which has been bred for leaves instead of ...
