Abelia is a genus of annual and biennial evergreen shrubs that originated in China and generally prefer acidic soil and a sunny location. They have finely-textured glossy green leaves and fragrant bell-shaped flowers that bloom throughout summer. Research Abelia
Beet (Beta) is a genus of plants of the family Chenopodiaceae distinguished by its fruit being inclosed in a tough woody or spongy five-lobed enlarged calyx. Two species only are known in general cultivation, namely, the sea-beet Beta maritima) and the garden beet (Beta vulgaris). The former is a tough-rooted perennial, common on many parts of the British coast and sometimes formerly cultivated for its leaves, which are an excellent substitute for spinach.
Of the garden beet, which differs from the last in being of only biennial duration and in forming a tender fleshy root, two principal forms are known to cultivators, the chard beet and the common beet. In the chard beet the roots are small, white, and rather tough, and the leaves are furnished with a broad, fleshy midrib (chard), employed as a vegetable by the French, who dress the ribs like sea-kale under the name of poiree. Some writers regard this as a peculiar species, and call it Beta cicia or hortensis.
The common beet includes all the fleshy-rooted varieties, such as red beet (with a fleshy large carrot-shaped root), yellow beet, sugar-beet, mangel-wurzel, etc. For garden purposes the best is the red beet of Castelnaudary, so called from a town in the south-west of France. The beet requires a rich light soil, and being a native of the Mediterranean region is impatient of severe cold, requiring to be taken up in the beginning of winter and packed in dry sand, or in pits like potatoes, the succulent leaves having been first removed.
Red beet is principally used at table, but if eaten in great quantity is said to be injurious. The beet may be taken out of the ground for use about the end of August, but it does not attain its full size and perfection until the month of October. A good beer was formerly brewed from the beet, which yielded a spirit of good quality.
From the white beet the French, during the wars with Napoleon I, succeeded in preparing sugar, that article, as British colonial produce, having been prohibited in France. Since that time, with the increase of chemical and technical knowledge, the making of beet-sugar has become an important industry in France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Belgium, and Holland and in England, though the early failure of attempts to produce beet-sugar on a large scale seem to have been mainly due to artificial conditions of trade competition. Research Beet
The bramble (Rubus fruticosus) or blackberry, is a prickly deciduous shrub of the family Rosaceae, allied to the raspberry. Bramble has sprawling, or erect, prickly, woody, arched and biennial stems that often root where they touch the ground. The leaves are stalked and have three to five, oval, serrate leaflets with white or grey, hairy undersides. The flowers are white or pink in colour, arranged in terminal racemes and are borne on separate, erect, second-year stems that die after flowering. Bramble is a prolific wild plant in Britain, and bears compound fleshy drupes known as blackberries in autumn, these starting red in colour and turning a glossy black when ripe. Research Bramble
Burdock (Arctium Lappa) is a biennialherb of the family Compositae. The flower head is covered with small hooks and readily attaches itself to any passing body, thus securing wide distribution of its seeds. In Britain burdocks are regarded as troublesome weeds, but in some countries the roots, young shoots, and young leaves are used in soups, and the plant is cultivated with this view in Japan. It is common in North America. Research Burdock
The wild cabbage is a native of the coasts of Britain, but is much more common on other European shores. The kinds most cultivated are the common cabbage (Brassica oleracea), the savoy, the broccoli, and the cauliflower. The common cabbage forms its leaves into heads or bolls, the inner leaves being blanched. Its varieties are the white, the red or purple, the tree or cow cabbage for cattle (branching and growing when in flower to the height of three meters), and the very delicate Portugal cabbage. The garden sorts form valuable culinary vegetables, and are used at table in various ways. Research Cabbage
Caraway (Carum carvi) is a biennial or perennialherb of the family Umbelliferae. It has a spindle-like tap root, finely divided feathery leaves which are two or three times pinnate, and erect branched furrowed stems terminated by compound umbels of white or rose-tinted, deeply notched flowers. The fruit is a rectangular, ribbed achene with two crescent-shaped seeds. Caraway grows throughout Europe and Asia in grassy, sunny locations, especially mountains up to an altitude of 2000 metres. Research Caraway
The carrot (Daucus Carota) is a biennialvegetable of the family Umbelliferae. It is a native of Britain and Europe and has tripinnate leaves of a feathery appearance. The plant rises to a height of some 60 centimetres and produces white flowers. The root is strong-flavoured and tapering. In the wild carrot the root is white, but in the cultivated variety it is orange in colour. Originally the carrot was cultivated as a food for cattle, it is now widely eaten by people. Carrots contain a large proportion of saccharine matter, and attempts were made in the past to extract sugar from them. They have been also employed in distillation: 10 lbs weight of carrots will yield about half a pint of very strong ardent spirit. Research Carrot
Celery (Apium graveolens) is a biennialvegetable of the family Umbelliferae indigenous to the ditches and marshy places near the sea-coast in England and Ireland, and elsewhere in Europe, and long cultivated in gardens as a salad and culinary vegetable. There are two varieties in cultivation: red and white stalked, and of these many sub-varieties. Celery is commonly blanched by heaping up the soil about the plants. Research Celery
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Abelia
