Beta vulgaris L.

Kew Species Profiles

General Description

Evidence suggests that Beta vulgaris has been cultivated since the 1st century AD, over which time a diverse range of forms have been developed. These include sugar beet, which is a major agricultural crop, providing about 30% of the world's sugar. Fodder beet cultivars are also an important source of cattle-feed.

Beta vulgaris is a member of the amaranth and goosefoot family (Amaranthaceae), which also includes spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). The generic name Beta derives from the Celtic bett meaning red. 

Beetroot was used medicinally in Ancient Rome and is used in the herbal treatment of cancer today. It contains high concentrations of red betalains (anti-oxidants), vitamin C, tyrosine, iron and folic acid. Some individuals are unable to metabolize red betanin, leading to the production of red urine (known as beeturia).

Species Profile

Cultivar groups

There are considered to be four major cultivar groups of Beta vulgaris :

Garden beet group (beetroot) Leaf beet group (rhubarb chard, spinach beet, Swiss chard, silver beet) Sugar beet group (sugar beet) Fodder beet group (mangel-wurzel, mangold) Geography and distribution

Beta vulgaris subspecies maritima (sea beet) grows wild along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe, where it is found near the sea shore, particularly in heavy alluvial soils and clays at disturbed sites.

Cultivars of Beta vulgaris are grown throughout Europe and North America.

Description

Overview: A polymorphic biennial (flowering in the second year of growth), up to 2 m tall when in flower.

Leaves: Basal leaves forming a rosette.

Flowers: Small, green, borne in clusters subtended by bracts, forming dense, usually branched inflorescences. Each flower contains two stigmas (female parts).

Fruits and seeds: 'Seeds' are actually fruits that are attached to each other and enveloped in a woody covering (calyces). 

Leaf beet cultivar group (rhubarb chard, spinach beet, Swiss chard, silver beet) - root not usually swollen, leaf midrib of some cultivars dark orange or scarlet, lamina sometimes puckered.

Garden and fodder beet groups (beetroot, mangel-wurzel, mangold) - hypocotyl (area just above the root) swollen, plant often flushed red-purple or yellow-white but lamina and inflorescence axis usually green.

Sugar beet - whitish, conical 'roots', up to 50 cm long.

Beta vulgaris subspecies maritima (sea beet) - stem to 80 cm tall, root not swollen, leaves to 10 cm long, flowers in clusters of 1-3.

Uses Food and drink (sugar, root vegetable, leafy vegetable)

Sugar beet is a major agricultural crop throughout Europe and North America, and the most important source of sugar in temperate countries. Sugar beet 'roots' contain up to 20% sugar by weight and have been used for commercial sugar extraction since 1801.

Beetroot is a popular vegetable, eaten boiled, pickled, or grated raw for salads. It is the main ingredient of borscht, a soup of Ukrainian origin. Beetroot juice is marketed as a healthy drink, alone or mixed with other juices.

Spinach beet is cultivated for its succulent leaves, which are similar in flavour to spinach and used in the same way. Cultivars known by the common names seakale-beet, chard, swiss chard and rhubarb chard differ mainly in having a broad, white leaf stalk, which is often eaten as a separate vegetable, while the green blade is used like spinach. Cultivars with reddish-purple, yellow or orange leaf-stalks and blades are available.

Sea beet leaves are one of the most popular wild vegetables in Britain, where the tangy leaves are cooked like spinach.

Livestock feed

Cultivars from the fodder beet group, known by common names such as mangel-wurzel and mangold, are grown specifically as cattle feed. The UK record for the largest recorded 'root' (actually a swollen hypocotyl) is 24.72 kg.

The leafy tops of sugar beet are a good animal feed, as are the root residue and molasses produced during sugar extraction.

Other uses

Molasses produced during the extraction of sugar from sugar beet is used to make industrial alcohol. Filter cake, the residue left behind after the purification of sugar beet juice, is used as manure. Beetroot is used as a natural dye. Sugar beet roots have been proposed as a potential biofuel.

The flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) is sometimes produced by bacterial fermentation using carbohydrates from sugar beet molasses.

Cultivars such as Beta vulgaris 'Dracaenofolia', which has narrow, deep scarlet leaves, are grown as ornamentals.

Millennium Seed Bank: Seed storage

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

More than 80 collections of Beta vulgaris seeds are held in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank based at Wakehurst in West Sussex.

This species at Kew

Beta vulgaris can be seen growing in the Queen's Garden (behind Kew Palace) at Kew.

Dried specimens of Beta vulgaris are held in Kew's Herbarium where they are available to researchers by appointment. Details of specimens of other Beta species can be seen online in Kew's Herbarium Catalogue.

Specimens of beet seeds, briquettes, pulp and pellets, as well as sugar, paper and insulating boards made from it, are held in Kew's Economic Botany Collection in the Sir Joseph Banks Building, where they are available to researchers by appointment.

Distribution

Belgium, France, United Kingdom

Ecology

Coastal.

Conservation

Widespread in cultivation.

Hazards

None known.

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular

remolacha

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution

Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 1000 - 2600 m.; Andes.

Morphology General Habit

Hierba

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Ecology

Alt. 1000 - 2600 m.

Distribution

Cultivated in Colombia.

Morphology General Habit

Herb.

Distribution

Biogeografic region: Andean. Elevation range: 1000–2600 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Colombian departments: Antioquia, Bogotá DC, Boyacá, Caldas, Cundinamarca, Nariño, Tolima, Valle del Cauca.

Habit

Herb.

Ecology

Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, shrubland, native grassland, artificial - terrestrial.

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology Leaves

Basal leaves cordate-ovate, 10–20 x 5–10 cm, stem leaves smaller and narrower

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences dense, much-branched, without bracts in the upper parts.

Distribution

Grown at least in N2 and perhaps sometimes escaping

Note

The cultivated beets are biennial with swollen root and include, e.g., beetroot and sugar beet. In Somalia only beetroot is known.

Use Food

Leaves - prepared in soups (Cuervo 1999).

Use Gene Sources

Crop wild relatives which may possess beneficial traits of value in breeding programmes (State of the World's Plants 2016).

Use Medicines Unspecified Medicinal Disorders

Medicinal (Instituto Humboldt 2014).

Use Animal Food

Used as animal food.

Use Environmental

Environmental uses.

Use Fuel

Used for fuels.

Use Gene Sources

Used as gene sources.

Use Food

Used for food.

Use Materials

Used as material.

Use Medicines

Medical uses.

Use Poisons

Poisons.