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Beta lomatogona

(Beet)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Beet

Description

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Family Amaranthaceae

Herbs, clambering subshrubs , shrubs , or lianas. Leaves alternate or opposite, entire, exstipulate . Flowers small, bisexual or unisexual , or sterile and reduced, subtended by 1 membranous bract and 2 bracteoles, solitary or aggregated in cymes. Inflorescences elongated or condensed spikes (heads ), racemes , or thyrsoid structures of varying complexity. Bracteoles membranous or scarious . Tepals 3-5, membranous, scarious or subleathery, 1-, 3-, 5-, or 7(-23) -veined. Stamens as many as tepals and opposite these, rarely fewer than tepals; filaments free , united into a cup at base or ± entirely into a tube , filament lobes present or absent, pseudostaminodes present or absent; anthers (1- or) 2-loculed, dorsifixed , introrsely dehiscent . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; ovules 1 to many; style persistent , short and indistinct or long and slender; stigma capitate, penicillate , 2-lobed or forming 2 filiform branches. Fruit a dry utricle or a fleshy capsule, indehiscent, irregularly bursting, or circumscissile. Seeds lenticular , reniform , subglobose, or shortly cylindric , smooth or verruculose .

About 70 genera and 900 species: worldwide; 15 genera (one introduced ) and 44 species (three endemic, 14 introduced) in China.

Morphology of the androecium, perianth (tepals), and the inflorescence has traditionally been used to circumscribe genera and tribes . Pseudostaminodia are interstaminal appendages with variously shaped apices. Filament appendages are the lateral appendages of filaments (one on each side) . The basic structure of the inflorescence is the cyme (branchlets arising from the bracteole axils, the bracteoles serving as bracts for upper flowers), which can be reduced to one flower with two bracteoles and a bract. Units of dispersal vary considerably (capsules opening with lower part persistent, flower and bracteoles falling together, or cymose partial inflorescences breaking off above bract) and can be characteristic for genera. Several genera possess long trichomes serving dispersal at the base of the tepals.[1]

Genus Beta

Herbs, annual , biennial, or perennial , often with fleshy , thickened roots , glabrous throughout. Stems erect or procumbent , not jointed , not armed , not fleshy. Leaves alternate, petiolate or sessile; blade ovate-cordate to rhombic-cuneate, margins ± entire, apex obtuse . Inflorescences spikelike cymes or glomerules , ebracteate at least in distal 1/2. Flowers bisexual , bracteate ; perianth segments 3-5, distinct , sometimes petaloid , rounded or keeled abaxially, wings and spines absent; stamens 5; ovary semi-inferior; stigmas usually 2-3(-5), connate basally. Fruiting structures achenes, connate with receptacle, often enclosed by swollen perianth. Seeds horizontal, orbicular or reniform ; seed coat dark brown, smooth ; embryo ± annular , perisperm copious . x = 9.

Species ca. 6: introduced ; Eurasia .

Beta is widely distributed and is known especially for the economically important Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, the commonly cultivated beet. The forms of the beets introduced in North America and established in the wild occupy both inland and maritime habitats .

The taxonomy of the genus is complicated by a long history of cultivation in which selective breeding has caused a bewildering array of diverse morphologies. In looking at the differences between the two forms of Beta that occasionally become established in waste places in North America, it is tempting to segregate the clearly distinct forms as different species. However, a number of researchers documenting the variation within the complex (B . V. Ford-Lloyd and J. T. Williams 1975; H. Van Kijk and B. Desplanque 1999) agree that the range of variation stretches along a continuum between the two extreme types defined by the maritima and vulgaris groups. The morphological lineage assigned here to subsp. maritima is usually considered ancestral to the cultivated forms of beet included within subsp. vulgaris.[2]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Fisch. & C.A.Mey. Publication : Bull . Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou (1838) 360.

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Beta

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 144 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

B. adanensis (Beet) · B. atriplicifolia (Beet) · B. juncea var. japonica 'Mustard Lettuce' (Mustard) · B. lomatogona (Beet) · B. nana (Beet) · B. oleracea var. acephala 'Blue Armor' (Kale) · B. patellaris (Beet) · B. patula (Beet) · B. procumbens (Cultivated Beet) · B. trigyna (Beet) · B. trojana (Trojan Beet) · B. vulgaris (Beet) · B. vulgaris cicla (Chard) · B. vulgaris macrocarpa (Common Beet) · B. vulgaris maritima (Spinach Beet (As B Bengalensis - India)) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Argentata' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Bright Lights' (Seakale Beet) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Bright Yellow' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Broadstem Green' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Canary' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Cardinal' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Charlotte' (Ruby Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Costa Bianca' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Flamingo' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Fordhook Giant' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'French' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Golden Sunrise' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Japanese' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Large White Ribbed' (Seakale Beet) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Leaf Beet' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Liscia Verde Da Taglio' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Lucullus' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Lyons' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Magenta Sunset' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Oriole' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Parrot' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Pink Passion' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Rainbow' (Seakale Beet) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Rhubarb Chard' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Ruby Red' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Scarlet Charlotte' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Sibella' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Silverado' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Virgo' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Vulcan' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'White King' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'White Silver 2' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. cicla 'Witerbi Mangold' (Swiss Chard) · B. vulgaris var. conditiva (Beetroot) · B. vulgaris vulgaris (Yellow-Fleshed Beetroot) · B. vulgaris vulgaris var. vulgaris (Sicilian Broad-Rib Beet) · B. vulgaris vulgaris 'Arcangeli' (Sea Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Action' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Albina Vereduna' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Albino' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Alvro Mono' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Always Tender' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Asgrow Wonder' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Baby Ball' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Baby Gladiator' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Big Top' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Bikores' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Blankoma White' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Bloody Mary' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Bolivar' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Boltardy' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Bonel' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Boro' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Bull's Blood' (Bull's Blood Giant Ornamental Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Burpee's Golden' (Burpee's Golden Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Burpee's White' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Centurion' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Chariot' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Cheltenham Green Top' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Chicago Red' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Chioggia' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Crosby's Extra Early Egyptian' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Cylindra' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Detroit' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Detroit 2 - Nero' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Detroit Dark Red' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Detroit Supreme' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Dewings Early Blood Turnip' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Early Egyptian' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Early Wonder' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Egyptian Flat Tf 68' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Excalibur' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'First Crop' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Formanova' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Forono' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Globe 2' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Golden' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Golden Surprise' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Green Top Bunching' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Improved Blood Turnip' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Kestrel' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Lalraj' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Little Chicago' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Lutz Green Leaf' (Beet) · B. vulgaris 'Macgregor's Favourite' (Beet)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Bojian Bao, Thomas Borsch & Steven E. Clemants "Amaranthaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 415. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Leila M. Shultz "Beta". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 258, 261, 266. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-05-01