46 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES BEEF-WOOD 



del Fuego in vast quantities on Fagus antarctica. It is col- 

 lected in large quantities and eaten uncooked ; it is mucilaginous 

 and sweet, with a faint smell like that of a mushroom, and 

 forms an important article of food to the natives. It also grows 

 in Chili on a species of Fagus, and on F, Cunningliamii in 

 Tasmania. 



Beef- wood. {See She Oak.) 



Beet, or Beetroot, thick fleshy-rooted herbs of the Goose- 

 foot family (Chenopodiaceae), of wliich there are many cultivated 

 varieties, all of which are supposed to have originated from Beta 

 maritima, common in some parts of the coasts of tliis country. 

 Its broad leaves are used as spinach. Originally there were only 

 two kinds cultivated in gardens, the Eed Beet {Beta vulgaris) and 

 the White Beet {Beta cicla). They are recorded to have been 

 cultivated more than 300 years ago : the White Beet for the 

 thick midrib of its leaves, which are cooked as asparagus ; and 

 the Eed Beet for its fleshy roots, which, boiled or roasted, form a 

 wholesome table vegetable, or they are pickled. Of B. vulgaris 

 there are four special varieties, red, yellow, white, or pale green, 

 and large rooted. The two first are, as already stated, cultivated 

 for their cuhnary roots ; the third, the wliite, also known by the 

 names of Sicilian and Sugar Beet. For a number of years past 

 this has been extensively cultivated in Germany and France, for 

 the purpose of extracting sugar from its roots, which process 

 commenced about 1830 ; and in 1850 in France alone there 

 were 303 manufactories for making beetroot sugar, which now 

 competes in the market with cane sugar. Besides pure sugar 

 and molasses, a spirit is also distilled from the residue, also a 

 considerable quantity of potash. Its cultivation in this country 

 has not been found practicable. The fourth, or large-rooted 

 kind, B. vulgaris macrorhiza, well known as Mangel Wurtzel, is 

 extensively cultivated in this country and on the Continent for 

 feeding cattle. 



Begonia, the name of an extensive genus, the type of the 

 Begonia family (Begoniacese), consisting of succulent- stemmed 

 herbaceous plants, erect or creeping, or fibrous or tuberous 



