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Published 2014
All these cultivated forms are descended from the sea beet, B. vulgaris ssp Maritima, a wild seashore plant growing around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe and N. Africa. This has only a small root, but its leaves and stems are sometimes eaten. Early Greek writers such as Theophrastus referred to the cultivation of this plant. By about 300 BC there were varieties with edible roots.