Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum esculentum )

Common Names:

in English: buckwheat, common buckwheat
in Japan: soba (= buckwheat noodles)
in Tibetan: rgya-bra
in China: qiao mai, chiao mai, wu mai, hua chiao
in India: doron, kaadu godhi, kaiyuk, kali-indrayan, kathu, kotu, kuttu, ogal, oggal, ogla, olgo, phapar, phaphra, suel, tyat

Scientific Names (Synonyms)

Floral Description

Flora of China

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.

Flora of North America

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

Flora of Pakistan

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.

Pharmacological Activities:

This plant is considered to be a primary photosensitize;
skin rash following ingestion and exposure to sunlight, in susceptible individuals.
Ingesting entire plants, dried or fresh, has caused photosensitization in animals with exposed or light-colored skin including cattle, goats, sheep, swine, and turkeys.
Exposure to the sun is necessary. Humans can be sensitized to dust from buckwheat flour after long exposure.
Asthma is the usual response, photosensitization has not occurred in humans. Fagopyrin, probably a derivative of naphthodianthrone, is closely related to hypericin, which is found in St. John’s-wort, Hypericum perforatum.
Plant antihemorrhagic, a cure for capillary fragility of the heart.
Juice of plant useful in urinary disorders. Leaves paste as an ointment for headache; leaf decoction taken for gastrointestinal problems.
Dried leaf paste taken against constipation.
Leaf extract of Mentha longifolia and Fagopyrum esculentum taken orally for cold and cough.
Leaves fried with ghee eaten as febrifuge.
Fresh leaves decoction or infusion taken in stomach ailments.
Root decoction in rheumatic pains,lung diseases and typhoid; root juice in urinary disorders.

Chemcials:

World's Popular Plant