甜菜Beta vulgaris Linn.

别名：糖菜;牛皮菜;紫菜头;君达菜;厚皮菜;恭菜;杓菜;火焰菜;[艹/忝]菜;莙荙菜;猪（也/母）;[艹/沗]菜;莙达菜;根荙菜;糖萝卜;石菜;光菜;菾菜;藜菜;莨送菜;希日音-曼菁;甜菜头;common beet;

科名：藜科 Chenopodiaceae

属名：甜菜属 Beta

《中国植物志》第25(2)卷010页
  1. 甜菜（植物名实图考）　菾菜（名医别录）
  Beta vulgaris L. Sp. Pl. ed. 1, 222. 1753; Moq. in DC. Prodr. 13(2): 55. 1849; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 5. 1890.
  二年生草本，根圆锥状至纺锤状，多汁。茎直立，多少有分枝，具条棱及色条。基生叶矩圆形，长20-30厘米，宽10-15厘米，具长叶柄，上面皱缩不平，略有光泽，下面有粗壮凸出的叶脉，全缘或略呈波状，先端钝，基部楔形、截形或略呈心形；叶柄粗壮，下面凸，上面平或具槽；茎生叶互生，较小，卵形或披针状矩圆形，先端渐尖，基部渐狭入短柄。花2-3朵团集，果时花被基底部彼此合生；花被裂片条形或狭矩圆形，果时变为革质并向内拱曲。胞果下部陷在硬化的花被内，上部稍肉质。种子双凸镜形，直径2-3毫米，红褐色，有光泽；胚环形，苍白色；胚乳粉状，白色。花期5-6月，果期7月。
  本种广为栽培，变异很大，被分为若干亚种、变种和变型。我国现在栽培的品种也很多，引种来源很杂，但常见的有4个栽培类型，我们均按变种对待。

《Flora of China》 Vol. 5 (2003)
Beta vulgaris  Linnaeus
甜菜   tian cai
Herbs annual or biennial. Root stout, tuberlike, and napiform or fusiform, or branched and not tuberlike. Stem erect, ± branched, ribbed, striate. Basal leaves long petiolate; petiole stout, abaxially convex, adaxially flattened or slightly concave; leaf blade oblong, 20-30 × 10-15 cm, adaxially crisped, sublustrous, abaxially with strongly protruding veins, base cuneate, truncate, or slightly cordate, margin entire or undulate, apex obtuse. Cauline leaves alternate, smaller than basal ones; leaf blade ovate or lanceolate-oblong, base gradually narrowed into petiole, apex attenuate. Flowers 2- or 3-glomerulate. Perianth united at base; segments linear or narrowly oblong, becoming leathery and incurved in fruit. Utricle basally sunken into perianth, distally subsucculent. Seed red-brown, sublustrous, lenticular, 2-3 mm in diam.; perisperm farinaceous. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Jul.
Commonly cultivated. in China [native to N Africa, SW Asia, and Europe; widely cultivated].
This species is highly variable, with many subspecies, varieties, and forms described. Four cultivated varieties are here recognized in China.