DESCRIPTION OF PLANT 



197 



vated in ancient times,, and has come into cultivation mostly since 

 the beginning of the Christian era. Its present distribution is prin- 

 cipally in the northern half of Asia and Europe, and northeastern 

 United States. Canada also grows a small acreage. It is grown 

 principally for human food. 



Relationships. Buckwheat belongs to a botanical family char- 

 acterized by angular three-sided seeds, including the common sorrels, 

 sour docks., and smartweed. Most of this group will flourish on wet 

 or sour soils, better than most vegetation. The buckwheat seed is 



FIG. 73. Distribution of buckwheat in United States. (U. S. Census, 1910.) 



three angled like a beech nut, and the German name, luchweizen^ and 

 the Latin name, Fagopyrum, both mean "beech wheat/' The 

 German name has come to be " buckwheat " in English. 



Description of Plant. Buckwheat, perhaps, should not be 

 called a true cereal, since it is not a grass (p. 2), but quite a dif- 

 ferent type of plant. Instead of a mass of fine fibrous roots, as in 

 grasses, buckwheat has a strong central tap-root, with rather few 

 branches. Neither does buckwheat produce tillers from the base, but 

 strong lateral branches are thrown out at each node. When planted 

 thin the lower branches are partly prostrate, but under ordinary field 

 conditions the branching is much reduced and the plants stand quite 



