1. Beta vulgaris L. ssp. vulgaris (garden beet)

Map 1520

Plants annual or biennial, the taproot with a globose to top-shaped, tuberous, thickened portion. Stems 30–120 cm long, erect or ascending, not succulent, not appearing jointed, usually relatively few-branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate and basal, well developed, progressively reduced toward the stem tip, not succulent, glabrous, often strongly reddish-tinged, sessile to short-petiolate, the basal leaves long-petiolate. Blades of basal leaves 10–40 cm or more long, unlobed, flattened in cross-section, elliptic-ovate to ovate or oblong-ovate, rounded at the tip or less commonly narrowed to a bluntly or sharply pointed tip, cordate at the base with a short-tapered extension of tissue into the petiole, the margins entire or irregularly wavy or scalloped, often appearing somewhat corrugated or crisped. Blades of the stem leaves 1–15 cm long, elliptic to ovate, unlobed, flattened in cross-section, not clasping the stem, narrowed to a sharply or bluntly pointed tip, mostly short-tapered at the base, the margins entire or irregularly wavy or scalloped. Inflorescences terminal panicles consisting of spikes, occasionally reduced to a single spike, the flowers not sunken into the axis. Flowers perfect, perigynous. Bracts 1 per flower, 8–15 mm long, leaflike, linear to narrowly ovate. Calyx 5-lobed to about the midpoint, the basal portion fused to the ovary (and sometimes also to the calyces of adjacent flowers), persistent at fruiting, more or less enclosing the fruit, the lobes 1.0–1.5 mm long, narrowly oblong, with a raised midrib. Stamens 5. Ovary partly inferior. Style absent, the stigmas 2 or 3, narrowly oblong-ovoid. Fruits 0.8–1.6 mm long, circular or nearly so in cross-section, oblong-obovate to obovate in outline, somewhat flattened laterally, indehiscent or more commonly circumscissilely dehiscent, the wall leathery to somewhat succulent toward the tip, thinner and herbaceous toward the base. Seed adhering loosely to the fruit wall, positioned horizontally, 1.5–2.0 mm long, broadly circular to somewhat kidney-shaped in outline, somewhat flattened, the surface smooth, black, shiny, the coiled embryo usually apparent. 2n=18. July–September.

Introduced, uncommon, known thus far only from the city of St. Louis (originally developed in Europe, cultivated widely, escaped sporadically in the U.S. and Canada). Railroads.

This species was first reported for Missouri by Mühlenbach (1979). The ssp. vulgaris, with a tuberous-thickened taproot, more or less erect stems, and larger flower clusters, is a cultigen derived from ssp. maritima (L.) Arcang. (sea beet) and has been cultivated for a very long time. This species is an important source of table sugar, and various cultivars are used for livestock feed (fodder beet, mangel-wurzel), as a source for a reddish purple dye (from betalain pigments), as garden ornamentals with colorful foliage, as salad greens and potherbs (Swiss chard), and as an edible root. Extracts of the betalain compounds also have been used medicinally as an herbal treatment for some cancers.