Fagopyrum esculentum

Fagopyrum esculentum is probably native to China, but commonly cultivated and easily escaping, cultivated in Bhutan, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, and Sikkim; also Australia, Europe, and North America.

Common Buckwheat is an occasional plant that has naturalized in scattered counties across Illinois, primarily in the NE, central, and SW areas of the state. It was introduced into Europe from central Asia during the Middle Ages, and consequently introduced into the United States. Habitats include fields, areas along roads and roadsides, irregularly mowed lawns, and waste areas. This plant is cultivated occasionally as a source of fodder for animals or as a green manure for agricultural fields. Escaped plants usually don't persist for any length of time. Disturbed habitats are strongly preferred.

Fagopyrum fagopyrum (L.) H. Karst.:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilib.:
China (Asia)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Fagopyrum esculentum Moench:
Burma (Asia)
Bhutan (Asia)
Canada (North America)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
Mongolia (Asia)
Nepal (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
South Korea (Asia)
United States (North America)
South Africa (Africa & Madagascar)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

introduced; Alta., Man., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Asia (China); introduced in Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa.

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

C. Asia, widely cultivated.

Distribution: Southern Europe, Central Asia, India, Iran and Pakistan.

"Notes: Western Ghats, Cultivated, Native of Europe"

This introduced annual plant is ½–2½' tall, branching occasionally. It is more or less erect, but has a tendency to sprawl in the absence of supportive vegetation. The stems become ribbed and reddish green with maturity, otherwise they are light green and round. The alternate leaves are up to 4" long and 3" across. They are sagitate or cordate, indented at the base, and often tapering abruptly above the middle. Their margins are smooth or slightly undulate. The lower leaves have slender petioles, while the upper leaves are sessile. Usually, neither the stems nor the leaves are hairy, although the upper stems are hairy on some cultivars. One or two racemes of flowers develop from the axils of the upper leaves; some of these racemes may be terminal. These racemes are 1-3" long, and they are densely crowded with whorls of flowers. Each flower is up to ½" across, consisting of 5 petal-like sepals, 8 white stamens with pink anthers, a tripartite white style, and no petals. The sepals are white, sometimes becoming green toward the throat of the flower. The outer surface of the sepals is occasionally tinted light pink, particularly on the flowerbuds. The blooming period occurs during the summer and lasts 1-3 months. There is a pleasant floral scent. Each flower is replaced by a winged achene with 3 sides. The membraneous wings of this achene form a heart-like shape with smooth edges. To some extent, the achenes can be blown about by the wind because of their sizable wings. The root system consists of a taproot. This plant spreads by reseeding itself.

The Fagopyrum spp. (Buckwheats) differ from other members members of the Knotweed family primarily by their relatively large flowers and achenes. These achenes have membraneous wings like the achenes of Rumex spp. (Docks), but the flowers of Buckwheat are insect-pollinated and more showy in appearance than the flowers of Dock. Common Buckwheat is the only Fagopyrum spp. that is known to occur in Illinois, although Fagopyrum tartaricum (Tartarian Buckwheat) has been observed in some NE states and Canada. This latter species is similar in appearance to Common Buckwheat, except that its racemes have fewer flowers and the margins of its winged achenes are undulating rather than smoothly curved.

esculentum: edible

Herbs annual. Stems green or red when mature, erect, 30-90 cm tall, branched above, glabrous or papillate on one side. Petiole 1.5-5 cm; leaf blade triangular, 2.5-7 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, both surfaces papillate along veins, base cordate or nearly truncate, apex acuminate; ocrea caducous, ca. 5 mm, membranous, oblique, not ciliate. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, racemose or corymbose; peduncles 2-4 cm, papillate along one side; bracts green, ovate, 2.5-3 mm, margin membranous, each 3- or 5-flowered. Pedicels longer than bracts, not articulate. Perianth pink or white; tepals elliptic, 3-4 mm. Anthers pinkish. Styles heterostylous. Achenes exceeding persistent perianth, dark brown, opaque, ovoid, sharply trigonous, 5-6 mm, surfaces flat.

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).

1800-4100 m

Annual, up to 1 m tall herb, glabrous or young parts rarely minutely papillose. Stem ribbed, reddish. Leaves petiolate, petiole 0.5-2 cm long, grooved lower leaves with long petiole, upper ones subsessile; lamina triangular or sagittate, cordate, basal lobes rounded to acuminate, 1.5-10 x 1-8 cm. Ochrea 2-3 (-5) mm long, hyaline, pubescent near the base. Inflorescence axillary and terminal, pedunculate, many-flowerd corymbose cyme. Flowers pink or red, pedicelled, c. 1 mm across. Perianth segments 5-partite, ovate or oblong-ovate c. 3 x 2 mm broad. Stames 8, unequal, alternating with glands, c. 1.5 mm long. Ovary 3-angled; styles 3, as long as ovary. Nuts deeply 3-angled, angles acute, brown, smooth, narrowed at both the ends, 4-8 x 2.5-5 mm broad.

Herbs annual. Stems green or red when mature, erect, 30-90 cm tall, branched above, glabrous or papillate on one side. Petiole 1.5-5 cm; leaf blade triangular, 2.5-7 × 2-5 cm, both surfaces papillate along veins, base cordate or nearly truncate, apex acuminate; ocrea caducous, ca. 5 mm, membranous, oblique, not ciliate. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, racemose or corymbose; peduncles 2-4 cm, papillate along one side; bracts green, ovate, 2.5-3 mm, margin membranous, each 3- or 5-flowered. Pedicels longer than bracts, not articulate. Perianth pink or white; tepals elliptic, 3-4 mm. Anthers pinkish. Styles heterostylous. Achenes exceeding persistent perianth, dark brown, opaque, ovoid, sharply trigonous, 5-6 mm, surfaces flat. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 16*, 32*.

Fagopyrum emarginatum (Roth) Meisner; ?F. emarginatum var. kunawarense Meisner; F. zuogongense Q. F. Chen; Polygonum emarginatum Roth; P. fagopyrum Linnaeus.

Fagopyrum esculentum is close relative of Fagopyrum gracilipes, but differs from the latter in its inflorescence dense, not interrupted (vs. lax, interrupted), pedicel not articulate (articulate at apex), achenes 5-6 mm (vs. 3 mm).

Polygonum fagopyrum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 364. 1753; Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilibert; F. vulgare T. Nees

Polygonum fagopyrum L., Sp. Pl. 364. 1753; Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilib, Exerc. Phyt. 2: 435. 1792 - nom. illegit.; Polygonum emarginatum Roth, Catalect. B. 1: 48. 1797; Fagopyrum vulgare T. Nees, Gen. Pl. Fl. Germ. Monochlam. 53. 1835.

Common Buckwheat is an occasional plant that has naturalized in scattered counties across Illinois, primarily in the NE, central, and SW areas of the state. It was introduced into Europe from central Asia during the Middle Ages, and consequently introduced into the United States. Habitats include fields, areas along roads and roadsides, irregularly mowed lawns, and waste areas. This plant is cultivated occasionally as a source of fodder for animals or as a green manure for agricultural fields. Escaped plants usually don't persist for any length of time. Disturbed habitats are strongly preferred.

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

Probably native to China, but commonly cultivated and easily escaping [cultivated in Bhutan, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, and Sikkim; also Australia, Europe, and North America].

Growing in roadside, riverside; 1400-2800 m.

This common buckwheat is widely cultivated in Pakistan and elsewhere; particularly in the higher inner valleys of Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindukush, above 1800 m. The flour is used for making breads. The young leaves are also used as vegetable. Also used as green fodder and a good honey plant.

Primarily bees and ants visit the flowers for their abundant nectar. When honeybees visit the flowers of Common Buckwheat in fields, they produce a distinctive honey. The seeds are an attractive source of food to various upland gamebirds, gramnivorous songbirds, and small mammals, including squirrels. The foliage is occasionally eaten by mammalian herbivores, including rabbits, deer, and livestock. However, a photosensitive reaction occurs in light-skinned animals that eat the foliage while in the presence of sunlight. This reaction is called "fagopyrism," producing such symptoms as swelling of the head and neck, blistering of the skin, and seizures. Sometimes people experience similar allergic reactions after eating products made from buckwheat flour or after exposing themselves to the foliage – but for most people, buckwheat flour is a safe and nutritious source of food.

Foodplant / parasite
cleistothecium of Erysiphe polygoni parasitises live Fagopyrum esculentum

Fagopyrum esculentum (common buckwheat (forb/shrub)) is prey of:
Pogonomyrmex

Based on studies in:
USA: California, Cabrillo Point (Grassland)

This list may not be complete but is based on published studies.

Flowering Jun-Sep; fruiting Jun-Nov.

Flowering from May to September; fruiting from June to October.

Fl. Per.: June-August.

The chromosomal number of Fagopyrum esculentum is 2n = 16, 32 (Zhang, 1998; Lei and Jing, 2000).

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 1
Specimens with Barcodes: 1
Species With Barcodes: 1

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 1
Specimens with Barcodes: 2
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

These species are introduced in Switzerland.

The preference is full or partial sun and moist to mesic conditions. Common Buckwheat tolerates a variety of soils, including loam, clay-loam, light sand, and muck. This plant can mature quickly from seed and begins to flower at a small size.

Fagopyrum esculentum is used as food.