V. Chesnokov, V.I. Burenin, A.A. Ivanov N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 44, ul. <...> Bolshaya Morskaya, St. Petersburg, 190000 Russia e-mail: yu.chesnokov@vir.nw.ru Received April 11, 2012 S umma r y The primitive (transient) forms and wild varieties of beet are related to cultivated beet (sugar, table, fodder and mangold), have the useful properties, can be crossed with cultivated beet and used in breeding programs. <...> However, there are some difficulties in estimating the status of beet samples and procedure for their storage in gene banks, which are caused by problems in beet taxonomy and systematics. <...> In particular, a correct discrimination of Вeta maritima vs В. vulgaris is hard to accomplish, and also the distinctions between В. maritimа and В. adanensis or В. macrocarpa are difficult to identify. <...> With the use of classical morphobiological analysis and molecular RAPD-markers, the authors for the first time determined the phylogenetic relationships between different specimens of wild, primitive and cultivated Beta L. from world collection of the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Growing (VIR). <...> On the basis of electrophoresis data, by means of UPGMA method the tested samples were clustered and phylogenetic trees created. <...> The obtained data suggest the phylogenetic division of Beta L. genus, which have been proposed by V.I. Burenin in 1983, and indicate an accuracy of this classification. <...> A wide variety of beets (Beta L.), both cultivated and wild representatives of different countries, were analyzed by N.I. Vavilov (1) along with scientific world literature available at that time, which data he used to identify the two world centers of origin of the genus Beta in Central Asia and Southwest Asia. <...> According to various reports, there are focused from 13 to 15 wild species and 23-25 primitive forms transitional from wild to a crop (2, 3). <...> Primitive (transitional) beets and wild Beta species are close to cultivated forms (sugar, table, leaf, fodder beets), and, therefore, they are an important source of germplasm. <...> Their useful properties are: heterothallism, cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), resistance to low temperature and soil salinity, immunity to diseases <...>