This article is about a commonly cultivated crop plant. Despite its name, buckwheat is not closely related to wheat. It is not a cereal, nor is it even a member of the grass family. Buckwheat is a herbaceous annual flowering plant growing to about 60 cm, with red buckwheat soba and pink and white flowers resembling those of knotweeds.

7 mm with 3 prominent sharp angles. Fagopyrum esculentum is native to south-central China and Tibet, and has been introduced into suitable climates across Eurasia, Africa and the Americas. The wild ancestor of common buckwheat is F. Yunnan, a southwestern province of China. The wild ancestor of tartary buckwheat is F.

Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in inland Southeast Asia, possibly around 6000 BCE, 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. The oldest remains found in China so far date to circa 2600 BCE, while buckwheat pollen found in Japan dates from as early as 4000 BCE. 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.

In hot climates buckwheat can be grown only by sowing late in the season, so that it blooms in cooler weather. The presence of pollinators greatly increases yield. The buckwheat plant has a branching root system with a primary taproot that reaches deeply into moist soil. Buckwheat is raised for grain where only a brief time is available for growth, either because the buckwheat is an early or a second crop in the season, or because the total growing season is limited. It establishes quickly, which suppresses summer weeds, and can be a reliable cover crop in summer to fit a small slot of warm season. Historically, the Russian Empire was the world leader in buckwheat production.