Plant · P-326

Sea Beet

Beta vulgaris subsp maritima

Sea beet is the wild ancestor of beetroot, chard and sugar beet, though it keeps none of the swollen root - it is grown purely for its edible leaf, eaten raw or cooked like spinach. It is a cool-season plant that turns bitter the moment summer heat arrives, so it is grown through fall and winter rather than fought through the hottest months. Its real distinguishing trait is salt tolerance - it is the most salt-tolerant material in its whole genus, the wild stock breeders mine for stress genes - yet it grows perfectly well in ordinary moist garden soil, unlike some salt-loving relatives, which makes it one of the first things worth trying on salt-affected ground.