Buckwheat

This article is about a commonly cultivated crop plant. For other uses, see Buckwheat (disambiguation).

Buckwheat
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Fagopyrum
Species:
F. esculentum
Binomial name
Fagopyrum esculentum
Synonyms[1]
  • Polygonum fagopyrum L. 1753
  • Fagopyrum cereale Raf.
  • Fagopyrum dryandrii Fenzl
  • Fagopyrum emarginatum (Roth) Meisn. 1840
  • Fagopyrum emarginatum Moench 1802
  • Fagopyrum fagopyrum (L.) H.Karst., invalid tautonym
  • Fagopyrum polygonum Macloskie
  • Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilib.
  • Fagopyrum sarracenicum Dumort.
  • Fagopyrum vulgare Hill ex Druce 1913
  • Fagopyrum vulgare T.Nees 1853
  • Polygonum emarginatum Roth

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) or common buckwheat[2][3] is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what is now Yunnan Province in southwestern China. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as Fagopyrum tataricum, a domesticated food plant raised in Asia.

Despite its name, buckwheat is not closely related to wheat. Buckwheat is not a cereal, nor is it even a member of the grass family. It is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb. Buckwheat is considered a pseudocereal, because its seeds' high starch content allows them to be used in cooking like a cereal.

  1. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". theplantlist.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  2. ^ Wang, Ya; Nie, Zihan; Ma, Tingjun (2022-02-24). "The Effects of Plasma-Activated Water Treatment on the Growth of Tartary Buckwheat Sprouts". Frontiers in Nutrition. 9: 849615. doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.849615. ISSN 2296-861X. PMC 8908094. PMID 35284468.
  3. ^ "USDA GRIN Taxonomy". Retrieved 16 December 2014.