FAGOPYRUM TATARICUM. 



27 



FAGOPYRUM TATARICUM, Gcertn.* 



Var. HIMALAICA, Batalin. 



[Vide Plate XCVI.] 



The thin dehiscent pericarp of the nut or grain distinguishes this variety from the 

 type. The grain is somewhat smaller, rounder, and of a darker colour. 



This variety appears to be restricted to certain parts of the Punjab Himalaya, and 

 is grown to some extent in Kulu. Attention was first drawn to it as a distinct variety 

 in 1888 by Professor A. Batalin, of the Imperial Gardens, St. Petersburgh, who was 

 attracted by the thinness of the pericarp, or shell of the nut, and by the superior quality 

 of the flour. At the request of Dr. Kegel, Director of the Imperial Gardens, about one 

 hundredweight of the grain was despatched from Saharanpur to St. Petersburgh for 

 sowing in various parts of Eussia.f The common buckwheat is largely cultivated in 

 that country, but the peculiar character of the grain of this new variety was consi- 

 dered likely to render it suitable for the preparation of groats. The climate of Russia 

 has not, however, proved to be favourable for the production of the grain. The plants 

 grew well, attained 2 to 6 feet in height, and gave good crops of fodder, but the yield 

 of grain was insufficient. 



In consideration of the superior qualities of the grain of this variety as compared 

 with that of the ordinary high elevation pMphra of the Kumaun hills, a fresh supply of 

 seed has been obtained for trial sowings in Kumaun and Garhwal. 



The following information contributed by Professor Church regarding this new 

 variety of buckwheat was recently published in the Kew Bulletin : — 



" This sample (forwarded from Saharanpur) contained about 8 per cent, of the fruits of the 

 " ordinary form of F. tataricum ; these were removed, being easily picked out owing to their wide 

 " divergence in colour, texture and form, from the very characteristic fruits of the new variety 

 " which constituted the bulk of the sample. 



" In these fruits the pericarp is smooth, dark-coloured, tripartite, invariably dehiscent, and it 

 " does not entirely cover the ripe seed ; it is, moreover, flexible and easily removed. Another 

 " character in which the pericarp of the new variety differs from that of the typical F. tataricum is 

 " its relatively small proportion by weight. Thus 100 fruits, weighing 21£ grains, yield no more 

 " than 14 grains of husk against more than twice that amount obtained from the same weight of 

 " fruits of the typical form. 



* References :— Kew Bulletin (1891), p. 244 ; (1893). p. 1. 



t The consignment was obtained from Kulu through the kindness of the Director of Land Records and Agriculture of the 

 Punjab. 



D 2 



