These plants were first grouped together in 1927 by Vladimir Andreevich Tranzschel as an informal unranked taxon "Patellares" in the genus "Beta". In 1934, Oskar Eberhard Ulbrich placed them in a new section "Beta" sect. "Procumbentes". Until 2006, "Patellifolia" was often not accepted as a separate genus. But recent molecular genetic studies by Kadereit et al. (2006) and Romeiras et al. (2016) revealed a deep genetic differentiation between "Beta" and "Patellifolia" and confirmed the status as own genus. "Patellifolia" comprises one to three species:  It was suggested that "Patellifolia procumbens" and "Patellifolia webbiana" might not be different species. The identification of the three species is difficult, and some distinguishing characters were found to be unreliable. Therefore, Thulin et al. (2010) proposed to treat all members of "Patellifolia" as a single variable species, "Patellifoia procumbens". This proposal was followed in the Euro+Med Plant Base. But "Patellifolia patellaris" could not be hybridised with the other two species, supporting the rank of an own species. The island species evolved recently, and because of their isolation they developed only small genetic differentiation. As a result, they show only weak genetic barriers to hybridization. "Patellifolia" is a rather old genus; the divergence from its sister genus "Beta" probably occurred early in the Late Oligocene. Its subtaxa are relatively young, diversifying in the late Pliocene or early Quaternary. The present distribution area suggests that it was previously a widespread taxon, but later the area fragmented and extensive extinctions occurred. "Patellifolia" is related to the economically important cultivated beets ("Beta vulgaris" subsp. "vulgaris", with sugar beet, beetroot, chard and fodder beet). Therefore, "Patellifolia" is of great interest as Crop wild relative and potential gene donor. They seem to be resistant to some of the most serious diseases of sugar beets, to leaf spot disease caused by "Cercospora beticola", curly top virus, rhizomania, and powdery mildew ("Erysiphe polygoni"). All three species proved to be highly resistant to the Beet cyst eelworm ("Heterodera schachtii").