222 



IMPORTANT FAMILIES OF PLANTS 



three to five lobed (rarely one or no sepals) ; stamens as many 

 as lobes of calyx or fewer; pistil one with one chamber; fruit 

 one-seeded in a loose bladdery capsule or utricle. 



Beets, Spinach and Swiss Chard. This family includes 

 the common beet (Beta vulgaris) (Fig. 145), which is indigen- 

 ous to both Europe and Asia and was used for five hundred 



years or more before the 

 Christian Era. Some varie- 

 ties are extensively used as a 

 table vegetable, others for 

 stock feed and still others for 

 the manufacture of sugar. 

 The spinach is an Asiatic 

 plant which has been culti- 

 vated and used from un- 

 known time. The Swiss 

 chard, which is so extensively 

 used as a salad, is a variety 

 of the common beet. 



BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 

 (POLYGONACEJE) 



Buckwheat. This fam- 

 ily includes the buckwheat 

 (Fagopyrum esculentum] 

 (Fig. 146), an Asiatic plant 

 which is well known. It was at one time known as beech wheat, 

 owing to the resemblance of the seed to that of the beech, but 

 this was gradually modified to " buckwheat." 



Rhubarb. This family also includes the well-known vege- 

 table, rhubarb or pie-plant (Rheum rhaponticum) , which is of 

 East European or West Asiatic origin. 



Buckwheat is grown from seed. Rhubarb may be grown 



FIG. 145. The table beet. 



