Beet
the English name of the beta, a genus of plants belonging to the order chenopodiacex (chenopods). Beta vulgaris, or common beet, is cultivated to be used in the manufacture of sugar , the green topped variety being preferred for the purpose. The small red, the Castelnaudary, and other varieties , are used, either raw or boiled, as salad.
Much of the beet root sugar is made , not from the beta vulgaris, but from the B. cicla, the white beet, called also the chard, or Sicilian beet. (Cicla, in the specific name, means Sicilian.)