The fleshiness or pulpiness of the roots is still more variable. Some
are as thick as the arm and edible, others are not thicker than a finger
and of a woody composition, and the structure of this woody variety is
very interesting. The sugar-beet consists, as is generally known, of
concentric layers of sugar-tissue and of vascular [69] strands; the
larger the first and the smaller the latter, the greater is, as a rule,
the average amount of sugar of the race. Through the kindness of the
late Mr. Rimpau, a well known German breeder of sugar-beet varieties, I
obtained specimens from seed of a native wild locality near Bukharest.
The plants produced quite woody roots, showing almost no sugar tissue at
all. Woody layers of strongly developed fibrovascular strands were seen
to be separated one from another only by very thin layers of
parenchymatous cells. Even the number of layers is variable; it was
observed to be five in my plants; but in larger roots double this number
and even more may easily be met with.
Some authors have distinguished specific types among these wild forms.
While the cultivated beets are collected under the head of _Beta
vulgaris_, separate types with more or less woody roots have been
described as _Beta maritima_ and _Beta patula_. These show differences
in the habit of the stems and the foliage.
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