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Chard: Beta Vulgaris Var. Cicla

Chard is an annual or biennial herb in the Chenopodiaceae family. It has shiny green leaves with red veins and petioles. The leaves are ovate to cordate in shape and can grow over 20 cm long. The inflorescence is a long branched spike up to 1.5 m tall bearing small green or reddish flowers. The fruit are small utricles containing kidney-shaped brown seeds. Chard grows best in full sun and prefers well-drained soil between pH 6.5-8. It is harvested by cutting the outer leaves repeatedly every 8-10 days.

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Jade Martínez
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129 views4 pages

Chard: Beta Vulgaris Var. Cicla

Chard is an annual or biennial herb in the Chenopodiaceae family. It has shiny green leaves with red veins and petioles. The leaves are ovate to cordate in shape and can grow over 20 cm long. The inflorescence is a long branched spike up to 1.5 m tall bearing small green or reddish flowers. The fruit are small utricles containing kidney-shaped brown seeds. Chard grows best in full sun and prefers well-drained soil between pH 6.5-8. It is harvested by cutting the outer leaves repeatedly every 8-10 days.

Uploaded by

Jade Martínez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chard

Beta vulgaris var. cicla Chenopodiaceae

Common Names
Chard, Swiss chard, silverbeet, spinach beet, leaf beet (En); bette, poirée, blette (Fr);
acelga (Sp); 菾菜 (Cn)

Plant Distribution
Worldwide

Botanical Features
Annual or biennial herb, robust, erect; leaves in the basal rosette with long petioles
arise from the base of the plant, on stems alternate and shortly stalked, often ovate and
cordate, 20-40 cm or more in length and 15-25 cm in width, margins wavy, leaf tissue
puckered between veins, nearly hairless, dark shiny green to red; petiole and midrib
swollen; inflorescence a long, paniculate, branched spike up to 1.5 m long; flowers
sessile, bisexual, usually 2-5 together, greenish or reddish, subtended by minute
bracts; fruit (utricles) developing mostly from aggregates of 2 or more flowers joining
together at base with swollen perianth bases, 3-7 mm across; seed kidney-shaped,
brown, 1.5-3 mm across.

Shiny green leaves with red veins and petioles

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Environmental Factors
Light requirement: full sun, partial sun; photoperiod: long-day; temperature
requirement: warm; preferred soil type: well-drained sandy loam to clayey loam;
optimum soil pH: 6.5-8.0; tolerance: frost; sensitivity: heat, flooding, shading.

Red leaves, veins and petioles

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Production Methods
System: home gardening, monocropping; planting material: entire fruit (containing 2-
5 seeds); planting method: direct seed followed by thinning, sometimes transplanting;
irrigation: frequent; priority fertilizer: organic matter, nitrogen; crop management:
free standing; planting to 1 st harvest: 35-40 days for outer leaves; harvesting: once-
over at 50-60 days after sowing, repeated cutting of outer leaves with a sharp knife
about 5 cm above the ground every 8-10 days; yield: 30-60 t/ha.

Inflorescence

Fruit (utricles)

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Edible Parts
Leaves and petioles are consumed boiled, steamed, or sautéed. Often boiled and
soaked in water after boiling to remove the strong flavor and acrid taste.

Health Values
Beta-carotene: medium; vitamin E: low; riboflavin: low; folic acid: low; ascorbic
acid: medium; calcium: low; iron: medium; protein: 2.0%. Young leaves and stems
contain antioxidative syringic acid (phenolic acid), kaempferol, and oxalic acid (ca.
0.6%).
Seeds

Field production of light green leaf type (left)


and dark green leaf type (right)

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