Beet

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Name Variations

 * Beetroot

About Beet
Wikipedia Article About Beet on Wikipedia 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-pollinated. The fruit is a cluster of hard nutlets.

The cultivated forms are thought to have come from sea-coast plants of Europe and Asia. With the imposition of the blockade of the continent during the Napoleonic wars there was an impetus to develop beet for their sugar content. The white Silesian beet, which was a fodder crop, received attention.