706 History of Garden Vegetables. f 
the species zeutlion; the Romans, beta; the Arabs, selg; th 
Nabathean, s7/g."_ Albertus Magnus; in the thirteenth centur, 
uses the word acelga,—the present name in Portugal and Spain. 
The modern names are : French, poirée ; German, Beisskohl, Bedi, 
Mangold ; Flanders and Holland, snij beet; Denmark, blad bedt; 
Italy, die¢a befitola ; Spain, bleda and acelga ;3 in China, tien isa! 
The wild form—Befa maritima L.—is found in the Canay 
Isles, the whole of the Mediterranean region as far as the Cae 
pian, Persia, and Babylon; perhaps even in Western Indiaj#) 
also about the sea-coasts of Britain. It has been sparingly! ‘ | 
troduced into kitchen-gardens for use as a chard.? 
The red, white, and yellow forms are named from quite eatly 
times; the red by Aristotle, the white and dark green by Ther 
phrästus and Dioscorides. In 1596, Bauhin® names the dark, 
the red, the white, the yellow, the beet with a broad stalk, até 
the sea-beet. These forms, while the types can be yet recog 
nized, yet have changed their appearance in our cultivated 
plants, a greater compactness and development being noted # 
arising from the selection and cultivation which has been 97 
generally accorded in recent times. 
Vilmorin describes for varieties the white, the Swiss, the silve, 
the curled Swiss, and the Chilian chards. To this we may ail 
Gx improved forms, such as the sea-beet. - 
SEA-BEET. ` 
Beta sylvestris spontanea marina. Lob., Obs., per e 
B. sylyestris-maritima. parag ny topin., I 596, I 
Sea-Beet. Ray, Hist., 1686, i. 204. 
The leaves form an excellent chard, and in Ireland are © 
lected from the wild plant and used for food and in Er gla 
the plant is sometimes cultivated in gardens. This form h 
been ennobled by careful culture, continued until a ma! 
was obtained." 
* De Candolle, aie Des PL Cult., 47. 
* Albertus Magnus, De Veg., Jaik ed., 1867, 8. 
3 Vilmorin, Les Pl. Pot., 1883, 420, 4 Gard. Chron., July 10, i 2 
5 De Candolle, 1. c., 46. 6 Lindley, Morton’s Cyc. of Ag Ags! : 
7 Targioni Tozetti, Hort. biez 1854, 147. 
8 Bauhin, Phytopin., 1596, 1 
? Johnson, Useful Pl. of Gt. Brit., 214. ' 1 Lindley, Morton’s Cyc. of Agi 
= Agr. Gazette, September 8, 1879, 218. 
