Fagopyrum


The genus Fagopyrum is in the flowering plant family Polygonaceae. It includes some important food plants, such as F. esculentum and F. tataricum. The genus is native to the Indian subcontinent, much of Indochina, central and southeastern China, and central and eastern tropical Africa. Species have been widely introduced elsewhere, throughout the Holarctic and parts of Africa and South America.

Description

Fagopyrum contains 30 species of plants, including two important crop plants, buckwheat, and Fagopyrum tataricum. The two have similar uses, and are classed as pseudocereals, because they are used in the same way as cereals but do not belong to the grass family Poaceae.
Within Fagopyrum, the cultivated species are in the Cymosum group, including Fagopyrum cymosum or perennial buckwheat, the artificial hybrid Fagopyrum × giganteum, and Fagopyrum homotropicum.
This genus has five-petaled flowers arranged in a compound raceme that produces laterally flowered cymose clusters.

Taxonomy

The genus Fagopyrum was first published by Philip Miller in 1754. It is placed in the tribe Fagopyreae in the subfamily Polygonoideae.

Species

, Plants of [the World Online] accepted the following species: