Part 1, 1916] CHENOPODIACEAE 5 
membranaceous, nearly free. Stamens 5 or fewer, united at the base. Fruit 
enclosed in the perianth or subtended by it, vertically compressed, opening 
by a lid either when ripe or at germination. Seed horizontal; embryo annular 
or semiannular. 
Perianth-segments indurate at the base in age; stamens 5. 2, BETA. 
Perianth-segments unchanged in age; stamen 1. 3. APHANISMA, 
2. BETA L. Sp. Pl. 222. 1753. 
Glabrous or pubescent, annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, with fleshy, often much 
thickened roots. Leaves alternate, the basal ones rosulate, usually petiolate, the blades entire 
or sinuate. Flowers perfect, bracteate and bibracteolate, small, in glomerules of 3 or more, 
or rarely solitary, the glomerules sessile in the axils or in terminal, simple or paniculate spikes; 
perianth urceolate, 5-lobed, adherent to the base of the ovary and to the others of the same 
glomerule, in fruit closed and indurate, the lobes erect or inflexed, costate. Stamens 5, 
perigynous; filaments subulate; anthers oblong. Stigmas 2-5, short, connate at the base. 
Pericarp attached to the perianth below, above fleshy or indurated, free from the seed. Seed 
horizontal, orbicular or reniform, smooth; embryo annular or nearly so, surrounding the copious 
endosperm. 
Type species, Beta vulgaris L. 
1. Beta vulgaris L. Sp. Pl. 222. 1753. 
Beta vulgaris Cicla L. Sp. Pl. 222. 1753. 
Beta hortensis Mill. Gard. Dict. ed. 8. Beta no. 2. 1768. 
Beta Cicla Pers. Syn. Pl. 1: 295. 1805. 
Erect annual or biennial, 6-12 dm. high, usually glabrous throughout, the roots often much 
thickened, the stems 1 or several from each root, paniculately branched above, often red; 
petioles of the lower leaves often equaling the blades, the uppermost leaves sometimes sessile; 
blades of the basal leaves oval or ovate-oblong, rounded or obtuse at the apex, subcordate 
and abruptly decurrent at the base, entire or subsinuate, often undulate, fleshy, green or 
dark-red, the blades of the upper leaves broadly ovate to lanceolate, acute or acuminate; 
glomerules of flowers at first in dense spikes, these in age much elongate and interrupted, 
leafy below, naked above; calyx-lobes oblong, becoming linear, obtuse, strongly carinate; 
stigmas 2 or rarely 3; seed 1.5-2 mm. broad. 
TvPE LOocALItTy: Seacoast of Europe. 
DIstRBvTION: Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, and widely cultivated; escaped from culti- 
vation in southern California and Mexico, and fugitive in the eastern United States. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. 24: pl. 233-235; E. & P. Nat. Pfl. 31: f. 24; Schkuhr, 
Handb. pl. 56; Pratt, Fl. Pl. Great Brit. pl. 175, f. 2; Mull. & Pilling, Deuts. Fi. pl. 176; Hegi, Ill. 
FL f. 539; Fiori & Paol. Ic. Fl. Ital. f. 1004. 
3. APHANISMA Nutt.; Mog. in DC. Prodr. 13?: 54. 1849. 
Cryptanthus Nutt.; Mog. in DC. Prodr. 13?: 54, as synonym. 1849. Not Cryptanthus Otto & 
Dietr. 1836. 
Glabrous succulent annual herbs. Leaves alternate, sessile or petiolate, the blades entire. 
Flowers perfect, green, solitary or in clusters of 3-5, axillary, sessile; perianth 3-cleft, rarely 
4- or 5-cleft, the lobes subequal, obovate-oblong, obtuse, I-nerved, unchanged in fruit. Stamen 
1, hypogynous; filaments filiform; anthers ellipsoid-globose. Style short, the 3 stigmas very 
short, recurved. Utricle globose, exceeding the perianth, finely 5-costate, finally circum- 
scissile; pericarp crustaceous, green, free from the seed. Seed horizontal, lenticular, the surface 
finely rugulose, shining; embryo imperfectly annular, surrounding the copious endosperm. 
Type species, Aphanisma blitoides Nutt. 
1. Aphanisma blitoides Nutt.; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13?: 54, 1849. 
Cryptanthus blitoides Nutt.; Mog. in DC. Prodr. 13?: 54, as synonym. 1849. 
Plants much branched from the base, the branches simple or sparsely branched, 1-6 
dm. long, prostrate, decumbent, or ascending, stout or slender, succulent, subterete; blades 
