XXVII. 



BUCKWHEAT. 



568. Name. — Buckwheat obtains its name from its resem* 

 blance to the beechnut; the German for buckwheat (buck- 

 weizeri)^ meaning beechwheat, having been corrupted in Eng- 

 lish into buckwheat. Fagopynimy the name of the genus to 

 which this plant belongs, means beechwheat. Buckwheat is 

 not a cereal from a botanical point of view, but because its seed 

 serves the purpose of cereals and enters into commerce as such 

 it is customary to class it with the cereal crops. 



569. Relationships. — This plant belongs to the buckwheat 

 family (Polygonaceae), which includes the various species of 

 sorrel and dock {Rjtmex), and of smartsveed, knotweed, bind- 

 weed (Polygomcm), all more or less troublesome weeds. 



570. The Plant. — The roots of buckwheat are entirely dif- 

 ferent from those of the true cereals, consisting of one primary 

 root and several branches. While the primary root extends 

 directly downward and thus reaches into moist soil, its roots 

 do not extend over large areas either laterally or vertically. 

 The plant grows from two to four, under ordinary cultivation 

 about three feet in height. It has a watery stem varying at 

 the base from three-eighths to five-eighths inch in diameter. 

 While green the color of the stem varies from green to red, 

 which upon ripening becomes brown. The plant does not tiller 

 or sucker, only one stem being produced from each seed. The 

 stem is more or less branched, however, depending upon the 

 thickness of seeding ; the plant by this means adapting itself 

 to its environment. The normal amount of branching under 

 ordinary field culture may be seen in (581). The leaves are 



