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Fagopyrum tataricum

Common name:	Tartarian Buckwheat	Family:	Polygonaceae
Author:	(L.)Gaertn.	Botanical references:	51
Synonyms:	Polygonum tataricum (L.)
Known Hazards:	The plant has caused photosensitivity in some people, the dehusked grain is said to be safe.
Range:	E. Asia - Himalayas.
Habitat:	Found at heights up to 4400 metres in the Himalayas from Pakistan to Bhutan.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Polygonum tartaricum[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Duckwheat [H], Franse Boekweit [D], Green Buckwheat [P,B,L], India-wheat [H], Kangra Buckwheat [H], Ku Ch'Iao [E], Rough Buckwheat [H], Tartarian Buckwheat [H], Tartary Buckwheat [H],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Polygonales. Buckwheat family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.8m. . It is in flower from July to September. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Bees and flies. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid soil. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Cultivar 'Madawaska': Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves; Oil; Seed.

Leaves - raw or cooked[183, 272]. Acceptable raw when added in small quantities to mixed chopped salads, otherwise the leaves are much better cooked[K]. They are rich in rutin.
Seed - cooked as a cereal[2, 46, 100, 105, 272].The seed can also be sprouted and used in salads, or ground into a powder and used as a cereal[183].
An edible oil is obtained from the seed[177, 183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Astringent.

The bark is astringent[240].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

A very easily grown plant, it prefers dry sandy soils but succeeds in most conditions including poor, heavy or acid soils[160] and even sub-soils. Prefers a cool moist climate, also succeeds in dry and arid regions.
Tartarian buckwheat is hardier and more resistant to cold than the more commonly grown buckwheat, F. esculentum, though it does not yield so highly[132].
Occasionally cultivated for its edible seed in Europe and the Himalayas[50, 51], there is at least one named variety[183]. 'Madawaska' is more cold hardy and drought tolerant than the type[183].

Propagation

Seed - sow from the middle of spring to early summer in situ. The seed usually germinates in 5 days[115]. The earlier sowings are for a seed or leaf crop whilst the later sowings are used mainly for leaf crops or green manure.

Cultivars

'Madawaska' 'Madawaska Buckwheat': A more cold hardy and drought tolerant cultivar than the type[183].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Polygonum tartaricum (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database

References for the family Polygonaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[51] Polunin. O. and Stainton. A. Flowers of the Himalayas. Oxford Universtiy Press 1984
A very readable and good pocket guide (if you have a very large pocket!) to many of the wild plants in the Himalayas. Gives many examples of plant uses.

[100] Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. Oxford University Press 1969 ISBN 0192176218
An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[115] Johnson. C. P. The Useful Plants of Great Britain.
Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.

[132] Bianchini. F., Corbetta. F. and Pistoia. M. Fruits of the Earth.
Lovely pictures, a very readable book.

[160] Natural Food Institute, Wonder Crops. 1987.
Fascinating reading, this is an annual publication. Some reports do seem somewhat exaggerated though.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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