Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Fagopyrum esculentum

Family

Polygonaceae

Flowering season

July to September

English distribution

It is cattered throughout the country but is most common

in the South and the Midlands

See the BSBI distribution map for Buckwheat

Habitat

It is a neophyte which was grown from the 1500s to

the 1800s as a flour-producing grain crop.

It was first shown to grow in the wild in the late 1590s.

It grows as a casual on waste ground, on the edges of

fields and by waysides.

Nowadays, it is grown commercially as a health food,

as a green manure and as food for game birds.

In the US it is widely grown to produce a nutty flour

used to make pancakes and biscuits.

Description

Buckwheat is an annual herb growing up to 60cm.

The flowers are pink and white and up to 5mm.

They are in clusters.

There are no petals or sepals. They are replaced

by 5 petaloid perianth segments.

There are 8 stamens and 3 styles.

The fruit is a nut that looks too big for the flower.

The leaves are arrow-shaped and resemble those

in other knotweeds.

The stems are red.

For some of the health claims made for Buckwheat

click on The World's Healthiest Foods.