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Fagopyrum esculentum

(Buckwheat)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Afrikaans:

Bokwiet

Common Names in Arabic:

Henta Soda (Egypt)

Common Names in Burmese:

Shari-Mam

Common Names in Chinese:

Qiao Mai, Tian Qiao Mai

Common Names in Croatian:

Navadna Ajda

Common Names in Czech:

Pohanky Seté

Common Names in Danish:

Almindelig Boghvete, Boghvete

Common Names in Dutch:

Boekweit

Common Names in English:

Buckwheat, Buckwheat Fagopyrum Esculentum, Common Buckwheat, Fagopyrum, Japanese Buckwheat, Japanese Buckwheat (Usa), Sarrasin Corn, Silverhull Buckwheat, Silverhull Buckwheat (Usa)

Common Names in Finnish:

Viljatatar

Common Names in French:

Blé De Barbarie, Blé De Sarrasin, Blé Noir, Bouquette, Mil Des Maures, Renouée Sarrasin, Sarrasin, Sarrasin Commun

Common Names in German:

Buchweizen, Echter Buchweizen, Heidenkorn

Common Names in Hebrew:

Fagopyron Tarbuti, Kosemet

Common Names in Hindi:

Bagonal, Kotu, Kotul, Kutu, Phaphar, Phaphra, कोटु, फाफरा

Common Names in Hungarian:

Hajdina, Pohánka, Pohánka Vagy Hajdina

Common Names in Informal Latinized N:

Fagopyrum

Common Names in Italian:

Faggina, Fagopiro, Grano Saraceno, Sarasin

Common Names in Japanese:

Kyoubaku, Soba

Common Names in Korean:

May Mil (Me Mil), Memil

Common Names in Nepalese:

Mithe Phaphar, Phaapar, Tilii Phaphar, Tonda

Common Names in Norwegian:

Bokhvete, Bokkveite

Common Names in Polish:

Gryka Siewna, Gryka Zwyczajna, Poganka, Pryka Zwyczajna, Tatarka Gryka

Common Names in Portuguese:

Trigo-Sarraceno

Common Names in Russian:

Grechikha Posevnaia, Grečicha Kul'turnaja, Grečicha Posevnaja, гречицха культурная, гречицха посевная

Common Names in Slovak:

Pohánka Prihlásené

Common Names in Slovenian:

Ajda, Navadna Ajda

Common Names in Spanish:

Alforfón, Grano Sarraceno, Grano Turco, Trigo Negro, Trigo Sarraceno

Common Names in Swedish:

Bovete, Vanligt Bovete

Common Names in Welsh:

Gwenith Yr Hydd

Description

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Family Polygonaceae

Herbs, shrubs , or small trees , sometimes monoecious or dioecious. Stems erect , prostrate , twining , or scandent , often with swollen nodes, striate , grooved , or prickly. Leaves simple , alternate, rarely opposite or whorled , petiolate or subsessile ; stipules often united to a sheath (ocrea) . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , spicate , racemose, paniculate , or capitate. Pedicel occasionally articulate . Flowers small, actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual . Perianth 3-6-merous, in 1 or 2 series, herbaceous, often enlarged in fruit or inner tepals enlarged, with wings , tubercles , or spines. Stamens usually (3-) 6-9, rarely more; filaments free or united at base ; anthers 2-loculed, opening lengthwise; disk annular (often lobed ) . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; styles 2 or 3, rarely 4, free or connate at lower part. Fruit a trigonous , biconvex , or biconcave achene; seed with straight or curved embryo and copious endosperm.

About 50 genera and 1120 species: worldwide, but primarily N temperate with a few species in tropical regions ; 13 genera (two endemic) and 238 species (65 endemic) in China.[1]

Genus Fagopyrum

Herbs, annual ; taprooted. Stems erect or ascending , glabrous or puberulent . Leaves deciduous, cauline, alternate, petiolate (proximal leaves) or sessile (distal leaves) ; ocrea persistent or deciduous, chartaceous ; petiole base articulated; blade cordate, triangular, hastate, or sagittate , margins entire to sinuate . Pedicels present. Inflorescences axillary , or terminal and axillary, racemelike or paniclelike, pedunculate . Flowers bisexual or, rarely, bisexual and staminate on same plant, 2-6 per ocreate fascicle, heterostylous or homostylous, base stipelike; perianth nonaccrescent, white, pale pink, or green, broadly campanulate , glabrous; tepals 5, distinct , petaloid , dimorphic , outer smaller than inner; stamens 8; filaments distinct, free , glabrous; anthers white, pink, or red, oval to elliptic ; styles 3, reflexed , distinct; stigmas capitate. Achenes strongly exserted, brown to dark brown or gray, sometimes mottled black, unwinged or essentially so, bluntly to sharply 3-gonous, glabrous. Seeds: embryo folded. x = 8.

Species 16: introduced ; Eurasia , e Africa; introduced elsewhere, cultivated in temperate regions worldwide.

Fagopyrum esculentum and F. tataricum are cultivated widely. In North America, they often escape , but populations generally are ephemeral .

Archaeological evidence for the cultivation of buckwheat dates to 4600 bp in China and 3500 bp in Japan (O. Ohnishi 1998). Molecular studies indicate that Fagopyrum comprises two major clades, with F. esculentum and F. tataricum in the large-fruited œcymosum group (O. Ohnishi and Y. Matsuoka 1996; Y. Yasui and O. Ohnishi 1998, 1998b; O. Ohsako and O. Ohnishi 2000).[2]

Physical Description

Species Fagopyrum esculentum

Stems ascending or erect , green or striped with pink or red, branched, (7-) 15-90 cm. Leaves: ocrea brownish hyaline , loose , funnelform , 2-8 mm, margins truncate , eciliate , glabrous or puberulent proximally; petiole 1.5-6(-9) cm, usually puberulent adaxially; blade palmately veined with 7-9 primary basal veins, hastate-triangular, sagittate-triangular, or cordate, 2.5-8 × 2-8 cm, base truncate or cordate to sagittate , margins ciliolate , apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences terminal and axillary , paniclelike, 1-4 cm, usually crowded at stem apices; peduncle 0.5-4 cm, puberulent in lines . Pedicels ascending or recurved, 2.5-4 mm. Flowers chasmogamous , heterostylous [homostylous]; perianths creamy white to pale pink; tepals elliptic to obovate , (2.5-) 3-5 mm, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute; stamens ca. 1/ 2 as long as or slightly longer than perianth; styles 1.5-2 mm or 0.5-1 mm; stigmas purplish. Achenes uniformly light brown or streaked with dark brown or black, sharply 3-gonous, 4-6 × 4-6 mm, faces smooth , angles prominent , unwinged or essentially so, smooth or occasionally with blunt tooth in proximal 1/ 3. 2n = 16 (China). Flowering Jun-Sep; fruiting Jun-Nov. [source]

Fagopyrum esculentum is a heterostylous, obligate out-crosser. Morphological, allozyme , and molecular data suggest that the cultivated plants are most closely related to wild ones in northwestern Yunnan, China. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August, September. • Flower Color: near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 24-36" tall.

Habitat

Cultivated as crop plant, waif along railroads, roadsides, fields , waste places, occasionally weedy; 0-2200 m ; introduced [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 3,852 meters (0 to 12,638 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Annual

Growth

Culture: Space 3-6" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 9.0

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: Not Applicable (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

F. vulgare T. Nees • Fagopyrum fagopyrum (L.) Karst. • Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilib. • Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilibert • Fagopyrum vulgare Hill • Polygonum fagopyrum L. • Polygonum fagopyrum Linnaeus

Notes

Publishing author : Moench Publication : Methodus (Moench) 290. 1794 [4 May 1794]

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Fagopyrum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 5 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

F. convolvulus (Climbing Buckwheat) · F. cymosum (Wild Buckwheat) · F. dibotrys (Perennial Buckwheat) · F. esculentum (Buckwheat) · F. tataricum (Green Buckwheat)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 14, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Anjen Li, Bojian Bao, Alisa E. Grabovskaya-Borodina, Suk-pyo Hong, John McNeill, Sergei L. Mosyakin, Hideaki Ohba & Chong-wook Park "Polygonaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 277. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Harold R. Hinds , Craig C. Freeman "Fagopyrum". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Fagopyrum esculentum". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 179.380 meters (588.517 feet), Standard Deviation = 233.840 based on 2,675 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012