2-Buckwheat

Common Buckwheat

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Polygonaceae
Genus:	Fagopyrum
Species:	F. esculentum
Binomial name
*Fagopyrum esculentum* Moench

Buckwheat refers to a variety of plants in the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, the North American genus Eriogonum, and the Northern Hemisphere genus Fallopia. Either of the latter two may be referred to as "wild buckwheat". Despite the name, they are not related to wheat, and are not cereals or grasses.
The cultivation of buckwheat grain, a pseudocereal food crop, declined sharply in the 20th century in affluent regions where the usage of nitrogen fertilizer is popular.

[edit] General

[edit] Fagopyrum

The crop plant, common buckwheat, is Fagopyrum esculentum. Tartary buckwheat (F. tataricum Gaertn.) or "bitter buckwheat" is also used as a crop, but it is much less common. Despite the common name and the grain-like use of the crop, buckwheat is not a cereal or grass. The grain is called a pseudocereal to emphasize that the plant is not related to wheat.
Buckwheat plants grow quickly, beginning to produce seed in about 6 weeks and ripening at 10 to 11 weeks. They grow 30 to 50 inches (75 to 125 cm) tall.^[1]
This genus has five-petaled flowers arranged in a compound raceme that produces laterally flowered cymose clusters.^[2]
Within Fagopyrum, the cultivated species are in the cymosum group, with F. cymosum L. (perennial buckwheat), F. giganteum and F. homotropicum.^[3]

[edit] Eriogonum

Eriogonum is a common chaparral plant throughout western North America, especially California, where it is the largest genus of dicots^[4] and at least 70 species have been cataloged.^[5] The flowers have six petals and occur in cymes.

[edit] Fallopia

The agricultural weed known as 'wild buckwheat' (Fallopia convolvulus) is in the same family, but not closely related to the crop species.

[edit] Etymology

The name 'buckwheat' or 'beech wheat' comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat. The word may be a translation of Middle Dutch boecweite : boec (modern Dutch beuk), beech (see PIE bhago-) + weite (mod. Dut. weit), wheat; or may be a native formation on the same model as the Dutch word.^[6]

[edit] History

Common Buckwheat in flower

The wild ancestor of common buckwheat is F. esculentum ssp.ancestrale. F. homotropicum is interfertile with F. esculentum and the wild forms have a common distribution, in Yunnan. The wild ancestor of tartary buckwheat is F. tataricum ssp. potanini.^[7]
Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in inland southeast Asia, possibly around 6000 BC, and from there spread to Central Asia and Tibet, and then to the Middle East and Europe. Domestication most likely took place in the western Yunnan region of China.^[8] Buckwheat is documented in Europe in the Balkans by at least the Middle Neolithic (circa 4000 BC). The oldest known remains in China so far date to circa 2600 BC while buckwheat pollen found in Japan dates from as early as 4000 BC. It is the world's highest elevation domesticate, being cultivated in Yunnan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau or on the Plateau itself. Buckwheat was one of the earliest crops introduced by Europeans to North America. Dispersal around the globe was complete by 2006, when a variety developed in Canada was widely planted in China.
Buckwheat is a short season crop that does well on low-fertility or acidic soils, but the soil must be well drained. Too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen, will reduce yields. In hot climates, it can only be grown by sowing late in the season, so that it will bloom in cooler weather. The presence of pollinators greatly increases the yield. The nectar from buckwheat flower makes a dark colored honey. Buckwheat is sometimes used as a green manure, as a plant for erosion control, or as wildlife cover and feed.

[edit] Agricultural production

Seed and wither flower of buckwheat

Buckwheat is raised for grain where a short season is available, either because it is used as a second crop in the season, or because the climate is limiting. Buckwheat can be a reliable cover crop in summer to fit a small slot of warm season for establishment. It establishes quickly, which suppresses summer weeds.^[1]

[edit] Historical data

A century ago, Russia was the world leader in buckwheat production.^[9] Growing areas in the Russian Empire were estimated at 6.5 million acres (26,000 km²), followed by those of France (0.9 million acres; 3,500 km²).^[10] In 1970, the Soviet Union grew an estimated 4.5 million acres (18,000 km²) of buckwheat. China was then the world's top producer until 2005, with Russia becoming once again the top producer after 2007.
In the northeastern United States, buckwheat was a common crop in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cultivation declined sharply in the 20th century due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer, to which maize and wheat respond strongly. Over a million acres (4,000 km²) were harvested in the United States in 1918. By 1954, that had declined to 150,000 acres (610 km²), and by 1964, the last year production statistics were gathered, only 50,000 acres (200 km²) were grown.

[edit] Present-day production

Common buckwheat is by far the most important buckwheat species, economically, accounting for over 90% of the world's buckwheat production.

Woldwide buckwheat production (s : semi-official data — e : estimated data — a : aggregated from official and estimated data)^[11]
Buckwheat	Cultivated area (hectares)				Yield (hectograms/ha)				Production (tonnes)				Seed (tonnes)
Countries	2005		2007		2005		2007		2005		2007		2005
Russia	833 600		1 305 000		7 265	e	7 700	e	605 640		1,004,850		69 500	s
China	834 000	e	900 000	e	8 992		8 888		750 000	e	800,000	e	87 570	e
Ukraine	396 200		237 000		6 933	e	6 751	e	274 700		160 000		20 500	s
France	36 593		32 945		33 945	e	35 558	e	124 217		117 148		3 293	e
Poland	67 531		90 000	e	10 675	e	9 777	e	72 096		88 000	e	5 500	e
Kazakhstan	55 000		142 600		10 545	e	5 610	e	58 000	s	80 000	e	3 200	s
United States	65 000	e	68 000	e	10 000	e	10 000	e	65 000	e	68 000	e	2 600	e
Brazil	46 000	e	48 000	e	10 869	e	10 833	e	50 000	e	52 000	e	2 760	e
Japan	44 700		44 600	e	6 979	e	7 623	e	31 200		34 000	e	1 341	e
Lithuania	28 400		21 700		5 528	e	9 631	e	15 700		20 900		2 500	e
Belarus	7 106		11 500		10 227	e	11 304	e	7 268		13 000		1 000	e
Latvia	10 400		13 000	e	9 519	e	6 307	e	9 900		8 200	e
Bhutan	4 500	e	4 600	e	14 888	e	14 782	e	6 700		6 800	e	360	e
South Korea	2 257		2 650	e	9 937	e	11 320	e	2 243		3 000	e	90	e
Canada	4 000		2 000		11 500	e	11 500	e	4 600		2 300		300	e
Czech Republic	1 000	e			20 000	e			2 000	e			26	e
Slovenia	811		809		17 916	e	9 406	e	1 453		761		52	e
Hungary	752		800	e	6 156	e	5 000	e	463		400	e	60	e
Estonia	676		314		7 174	e	9 554	e	485		300
Slovakia	461		500	e	8 872	e	6 000	e	409		300	e
Moldova	2 811		7 200	e	3 429	e	416	e	964		300	e	252	e
Kyrgyzstan	378		600	e	9 179	e	8 333	e	347		500	e
South Africa	1 000	e	1 000	e	3 000	e	3 000	e	300	e	300	e	65	e
Croatia	45	e			31 111	e			140	e			2	e
Georgia	100	e	100	e	10 000	e	10 000	e	100	s	100	e
World	2 443 321	a	2 934 918	a	8 529	e	8 385	e	2 083 925	a	2 461 159	a	200 974	a