Beta vulgaris: beet, beet root, beetroot, common beet, garden beet, leaf beet, mangel, mangold, red beet, sea beet, spinach beet, sugar beet, Swiss chard, white sugar beet

Description:

The beet (Beta vulgaris) is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet. However, other cultivated varieties include the leaf vegetable chard, as well as the root vegetable sugar beet, which is important in the production of table sugar, and mangelwurzel, which is a fodder crop. Three subspecies are typically recognised. All cultivated varieties fall into the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, while Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, commonly known as the sea beet, is the wild ancestor of these, and is found throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic coast of Europe, the Near East, and India. A second wild subspecies, Beta vulgaris subsp. adanensis, occurs from Greece to Syria. The roots are most commonly deep red-purple in color, but come in a wide variety of other shades, including golden yellow and red-and-white striped.

Nutrients:

It contains 4330.000 - 18180.000 mg/100g Carbohydrates, 22.000 - 305.000 kcal/100g Energy, 60.000 - 200.000 mg/100g Fatty acids, 1200.000 - 3700.000 mg/100g Fibres, and 730.000 - 2570.000 mg/100g Proteins

Chemical Constitutes:

3,5-Dihydroxy-6,7-methylenedioxyflavanone, 4,5-seco-DOPA, 5-Methoxytryptamine, 9-Ribosyl-trans-zeatin, Achyranthoside B, Adipic acid, Anhydroglycinol, Azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, Betagarin, Betalamic acid, Betanidin, Betanidin-quinone, Betanin, Betavulgarin, Betavulgaroside III, Betavulgaroside V, Bethoside A, Bethoside B, Bethoside C, Calenduloside E, Dihydrocaffeic acid, Dihydroxyphenylalanine, Dopaxanthin-quinone, Ferulic acid, Galactinol, Glutaric acid, Humilixanthin, Indole-3-carboxylic acid, Inosine, Irisone B, Leuko-DOPA-chrome, Leuko-DOPA-chrome-glucoside, Malonic acid, Melatonin, Miraxanthin V, Musca-aurin VII, N6-(delta2-Isopentenyl)adenine, o-DOPA-quinone, Octacosan-1-ol, Oleanolic acid, p-Coumaric acid, Pennogenin 3-O-beta-chacotrioside, Polygonatoside B3, Polypodine B, Prebetanin, Protodioscin, Serotonin, Skatole, Sucrose, Tryptamine, Tyrosine-betaxanthin, Vitexin 6''-O-malonyl 2''-O-xyloside, Vulgaxanthin I, and Vulgaxanthin-II

Common Names

in English: beet, beet root, beetroot, common beet, garden beet, leaf beet, mangel, mangold, red beet, sea beet, spinach beet, sugar beet, Swiss chard, white sugar beet

in China: chun ta tsai, tian cai, tian cai gen, tien tsai

in India: bit, bittruttu, cencira, cencirai, chakundar, chukandar, chukander, cukkandan, karangia, neycira, palak, palakya, palanki, raktagrnjana, rakthagadde, tukhm chuqandar

in Japan: kaen-sai, sangojuna

Floral Description:

According to Flora of Pakistan:

Annual to perennating stout herb, glabrous to hirsute, up to 100 cm long, decumbent to erect, branched and leafy, green to purplish-violaceous; roots slender to tuberous with sugar storage. Leaves usually up to 12 x 6 cm, petiolate; radical rosulate, ovate, cuneate to subcordate; cauline rhombic-oblong to linear-lanceolate. Floral clusters (1-) 2-4-flowered, arranged in long, slender, ± interrupted spikes, uaually with smaller subtending leaves (bracts); bracteoles very small or aborted. Perianth herbaceous, green, 2-5 mm long, as long as or exceeding the diameter of the fruit, united and indurated below, usually incurved and ± keeled.

According to Flora of China

Herbs annual or biennial. Root stout, tuberlike, and napiform or fusiform, or branched and not tuberlike. Stem erect, ± branched, ribbed, striate. Basal leaves long petiolate; petiole stout, abaxially convex, adaxially flattened or slightly concave; leaf blade oblong, 20-30 × 10-15 cm, adaxially crisped, sublustrous, abaxially with strongly protruding veins, base cuneate, truncate, or slightly cordate, margin entire or undulate, apex obtuse. Cauline leaves alternate, smaller than basal ones; leaf blade ovate or lanceolate-oblong, base gradually narrowed into petiole, apex attenuate. Flowers 2- or 3-glomerulate. Perianth united at base; segments linear or narrowly oblong, becoming leathery and incurved in fruit. Utricle basally sunken into perianth, distally subsucculent. Seed red-brown, sublustrous, lenticular, 2-3 mm in diam.; perisperm farinaceous

According to Flora of North America:

Roots fibrous or fleshy. Leaves: petiole ¹/2-²/3 or equaling blade length; blade dark red to green, usually with pronounced midrib, somewhat fleshy. Inflorescences cymes, 1-8-flowered, interrupted towards base. Perianth urn-shaped; segments 3-5 × 2-3 mm; receptacle pelviform. Achenes 5-11 per cluster, 3-5 mm. Seeds 1.5-2 mm.

Activities and Uses:

Leaves applied to burns and bruises. Roots and leaves antitumor, emmenagogue, carminative, stomachic, emollient, tonic, nutritive, rejuvenative, stimulating, for liver complaints, hepatitis, jaundice, fatty liver, nausea, hypoglycemia, infections, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, anemia, cancer, diverticulitis, diarrhea, dysentery, constipation, hemorrhoids.