in taxon vegetable-producing plant, root, tuber or bulb beet plant Beta vulgaris L. PLANTS:BEVU2 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 vegetables chard and spinach beet, as well as the root vegetables 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. WIKIPEDIA:Beta_vulgaris beetroot beta vulgaris common beet leafy vegetable plant Beta vulgaris requires discussion