52 



VARIOi:S FOOD-PLANTS 



r^''^-^!^ 



Fig. 41. — Beet. (Beta vulgaris, Goose- 

 foot Family, Chenopodiacecp). Plant 

 showing the appearance of the parts 

 above ground at the end of its first 

 year. X \. (Original). — The leaves 

 are smooth, green or more or less 

 tinged with red; stem scarcely more 

 than a "crown" covering the top of 

 the swollen root which projects some- 

 what above the ground. 



Fig. 42. — Beet. A plant in its second 

 year, the underground parts cut ver- 

 tically, to show the swollen root which 

 is feeding with its store of nutriment 

 the crown, which has given ri.se to 

 several erect l^ranches bearing leaves, 

 flowers and fruit. (Original). — Plant, 

 a biennial, i. e., requiring two years 

 to complete its life, the first year 

 storing up food which during the 

 second year it uses to build flower- 

 and fruit-bearing shoots; stem- 

 branches, commonly deep red; flow- 

 ers, greenish; fruit, dry, rough, and 

 brown, 



