BEET, Beta, a genus of plants of the natural order chenopodiacca (q.v.), distin gaished by ii 5-cleft perianth, 5 stamens inserted on a fleshy ring Surrounding the ovary, and the fruit adhering to the calyx, and collected in clusters of two or three. The species are not numerous; they are mostly biennials, with smooth, ovate, stalked root leaves, and tall, leafy, flowering-stems. They are natives of the temperate parts of the old world. The Costmox B. (11. vulgaris) is a native of the shores of the Mediterranean, but is now in very general cultivation both in fields and gardens, chiefly for the sake of its large succulent and generally carrot-shaped roots, which are used as food both for man and for cattle, and from which also sugar is largely extracted on the continent of Europe. Beet-roots may be substituted for malt, when deprived of the greater part of their juice by pressure. The variety chiefly cultivated in gardens is known as RED B., from the color of the root, which also more or less appears in the leaves and leaf stalks. The subvarietics are very numerous. In some, the root is rather turnip-shaped than carrot-shaped, and the size and color also vary much, some being of a deep blood red, or even almost blackish color, both externally and internally; and others of a much lighter red, and internally even white. It forms a favorite pickle, and is also very agreeable as a boiled vegetable when properly dressed. The seed is sown so late in
spring, that the plants may not produce flowering stems the first year, which, when it. occurs, renders the root fibrous and useless.—MANooLD-WunzEL (q.v.), so valuable as a field-crop for food of cattle, is, in general, regarded as merely a larger and coarser variety of the common B., in which the red color is comparatively little exhibited, although some botanists have, on very slender grounds, endeavored to erect it into a distinct species.—The WnrrE B. of our, gardens (P. eiela of sonic botanists) is now also generally. supposed to be a mere variety of the common B. with little or no red in its roots or leaves, and a comparatively slender root, It is cultivated for the sake of its leaves, which are used in the same manner as spinach, and form an excellent substitute for it, especially in the beginning of spring. The leaf-stalks and midribs (elaird8) of the leaves, especially of a variety in which these parts are unusually developed, are also dressed for the table.—SEA-B. (B. maritime) grows wild upon the shores of Britain, and differs from the common B. in its perennial root, its partly prostrate stems, and other characters. The leaves are used for food in Ireland, as are those of B. lathe East •