Beta vulgaris L.
beet
Glabrous or almost glabrous annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial herb. Taproot stout, but not usually strongly thickened. Basal lvs usually forming rosette at first. Petiole to c. 20 cm long; lamina very variable according to habitat, usually to 20 × 15 cm, ovate or oblong-ovate, glossy, puckered or bullate; margin undulate; base generally cordate. Flowering stems 30-100 cm high, with few to many branches; cymes 1-4-flowered, dense above, more interrupted towards base of stem; lvs and leaflike bracts smaller and more linear toward top of stem, often scarcely > glomerules. Perianth segments 1.7-2.5 mm long, oblong, green with hyaline margin, incurved, scarcely accrescent. Stamens included. Fruiting ovary 2-4 mm across top, flat, orbicular. Seed deep glossy brown.
N.; S.: scattered localities throughout.
Coastal Europe, N. Africa, W. Asia 1878
On or near beaches, and a garden escape on to waste ground.
FL Dec-Feb.
Although B. vulgaris contains extremely popular root and lf vegetable crops, various beets have caused nitrate poisoning in stock when eaten in excess. (Connor 1977).
Naturalised material can be referred to subsp. vulgaris. The common European coastal subsp. maritima (L.) Thell. does not appear to be in N.Z., although small-leaved plants on exposed beaches often resemble it. Beet is very commonly cultivated throughout N.Z. and cultivated plants are generally larger than wild plants. Both the Crassa group (beetroot, and mangels or mangolds), and the Cicla group [ var. cicla L. (also recorded as B. cycla) - silver beet or sea kale beet] are grown. The wild plants around N.Z. coasts are almost always derived from cvs of silver beet, whereas those inland on waste ground may belong to either the Cicla or Crassa group.
