60 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
specimens. Leaves 1 to 3 inches long, shaped somewhat like those of 
Convolvulus Sepium; the lower ones on long slender petioles; the 
upper ones also stalked, and 1 or 2 of the uppermost quite sessile. 
Racemes on short peduncles, arranged in a forked corymb. Flowers 
1 inch long, cream-coloured or pale pink. Nut about ¢ inch long, 
projecting much beyond the withered perianth; dark brown, with 
3 very acute angles. Plant glabrous, with the veins of the leaves 
and a line on one side of the stem and peduncles commonly squamose- 
puberulent. 
Common Buckwheat. 
French, Renowée Sarrasine. German, Buchweizen Knéterich. 
The specific name of this plant has been given it on account of the resemblance 
which the triangular seeds bear to beechmasts, and the English word for the plant has 
probably the same origin, being a corruption of the German Buchweizen (Buckwheat). 
Some, however, derive the common name from the plant being sown to afford food to 
deer, which is very improbable. The buckwheat has long been cultivated as an article 
of food in most parts of central and southern Europe, though originally a native of 
Asia. In this country it is known by the name of “ Brank,” and is grown chiefly as 
food for game, or for the sake of its green fodder. On some parts of the continent 
of Europe the ripe seeds are ground, and mixed with wheaten flour, and eaten as food. 
Tt is not much cultivated in Great Britain, the moist and variable climate not favouring 
its growth. One great advantage attending it is the very late period at which it may 
be sown, and the short time it takes to perfect its seed. It will not bear frost, and 
therefore should not be put into the ground before the first week in May, as the plants 
are always above ground five or six days after sowing. It requires little manure, and 
will often yield a good crop on poor or exhausted soils, on which nothing else will 
grow. The grain, which is small, black, and of a triangular form, is wholesome and 
nutritious, containing about 10 per cent. of gluten, and from 58 to 60 of starch, sugar, 
and gum. Given to cattle, it fattens them rapidly, while as a substitute for oats it 
answers well as food for horses. Poultry prefer it to any other grain, and all grani- 
vorous birds relish it exceedingly. A considerable quantity of the grain is annually 
consumed by the distillers, especially in the manufacture of gin. Beer may also be 
brewed from it nearly as well as from barley. Of late years, buckwheat has been 
brought into notice as a green manure, for which purpose it is said to answer 
admirably, but it must be thickly sown. It also furnishes in the green state excellent 
fodder for sheep and cattle, though it is said to have a narcotic effect on the former 
animals, As human food the grain is scarcely inferior to the cereal grasses. It does 
not make good bread, but is palatable, and probably wholesome in cakes and porridge. 
Peter the Great was so fond of it that he usually supped off a dish of buckwheat boiled 
and mixed with butter—a favourite way of preparing it at the present day. Buck- 
wheat seems to have been unknown in Europe until about the time of the Crusades, 
when it was brought from the East by some of the hardy adventurers who returned 
from these expeditions. In memory of its origin as a plant of European culture, it is 
still called in France “BIé Sarrasin.” By some writers it is said to have been first 
introduced into Spain by the Moorish conquerors at a much earlier period. Its 
cultivation rapidly spread in Europe, and it is now extensively grown throughout 
Germany, France, and Russia; in the latter country forming a staple food of the 
peasantry. In Belgium it is much grown as an ordinary rotation crop, and so highly 
