POLYGONACE^. 



211 



l-ovuled, ovule basilar and erect. Fruit ;3-angled, .sometimes winged. 

 Leaves alternate and entire, largely collected at the base of the stern, 

 rarely opposite, mostly with clasping petioles and sheathing stipules. 

 Herbaceous or frutescent, and sometimes climbing. 

 Xo. oi genera, about 80; species, COO. 



FAGOPYRUM, Tourn. Calyx composed of 5 colored equal sepals 

 or parts ; stamens 8, alternating with 8 honey-glands. Number of 

 styles 3, capitate. Fruit 3-angled, in lax or dense cymes. 



1. F. esculentum, Tourn. (Buckwheat.) Stem smooth, 1 to 3 feet high, 

 branched, in an irregular panicle, furrowed, stout and liollow. Leaves vary- 

 ing, cordate, triangular, or liastate. Flowers in terminal and axillary cymo.se 

 panicles, rose white. P>uit 3-angled, nut or grain inclosed in a dark-colored, 

 coriaceous shell ; kernel white. 



Flowers in August ; fruit ripens in September and October. 



2. F. Tartaricum is a hardy species grown in Tartary and in northern 

 Europe, endures light frost, differs froni /'. esculentum in the leaves, which are 

 broader than long, with acute lobes. Fruit 



triangular, lance-shaped, with the angles 

 sinuate-dentate ; calyx very small. 



3. F. emarginatum differs from the last 

 in its fruit, whose angles are margined by a 

 broad wing. 



Geography. — The zone of the buckwheat 

 is not very wide ; it is found in Russia, far 

 north, and grows well in Canada and tlie 

 northern United States. It will grow south 

 of 35° of latitude, but does not tlirive in hot 

 climates. Though it does not endure the 

 frost, it will not fill unless it has a tempera- 

 ture as low as 35° Fahrenheit. 



Etymology. — Fagopyrum is derived from 

 the Greek words (f>vy6s, " beech," and nvpos. 

 " wheat," — beech wheat or grain. Escu- 

 lentum, the specific name, is Latin, and signifies that the grain is eatable. 

 The common name, buckwheat, is derived from the Angle-Saxon word boc, 

 " beech," and the word " wheat " signifying " beech-wheat." Liuuanis called 

 this plant Polygonum fagopyrum, "mmiy-augled beech-wheat." Tournefort, 

 the great French botanist, named it Fagopyrum esculentum, '' ei\tii]>\e beech- 

 wheat." Tartaricum, Latin, is derived from Tartary, the home of this species. 

 Emarginatum, Latin, is due to the fact that the angles of the fruit are mar- 

 gined by broad wings. 



History. — \t is a native of central Asia and Tartary, and is found growing 

 without cultivation in the valley of the Volga, and along the .sliores of the 

 Caspian Sea. It was carried to Spain by the Moors, and has thence spread 

 tiiroughout northern and central Europe, where it has become naturalized. 

 In France it is called IVe Saracin, or Sarasin Wheat. 



Another account of its introduction int(^ Europe is that it was brought by 

 the Crusaders from Asia Minor, in wiiose northern fields it was found under 

 cultivation, which would account for its French name. 



Fagopyrum esculentum 

 (Buckwheat). 



