Leila Shultz, Taxon Editor Chenopodiaceae, Volume Four. L. Shultz, Taxon Editor. Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs , glabrous throughout, often with fleshy, thickened roots.
Leaves alternate, more or less entire, usually petiolate.
Flowers bisexual, bracteate or with two bractoles. Inflorescence of few-flowered cymes or glomerules, spicately arranged or solitary. Fruit an achene. An widely distributed group, known especially for the economically important Beta vulgaris , the commonly cultivated beet and the type species for the genus. Beta hortensis Mill.