Chenopodiaceae
family(Beta vulgaris)
Chenopodiaceae
family
Beets (left, above) are native to Europe and the Mediterranean, where they were first domesticated as a table vegetable. Breeding of sugarbeets has only been done within the last 250 years. Swiss chard (right, above) has been bred to not produce the large taproot. All beets are generally a cool-season crop, with Swiss chard cultivars having better heat tolerance than table beets or sugarbeets. Sugarbeets have spread as a field crop and substitute for cane sugar largely for political reasons. Napoleon encouraged its cultivation within his realm due to a British monopoly over cane sugar from the British West Indies. More recently, the United States viewed sugarbeets as a favorable strategic commodity, a sugar source to sustain America during World War II and the US-Japanese struggle for control of the Pacific islands.