Fagopyrum

The genus Fagopyrum is in the flowering plant family Polygonaceae. It includes some important food plants, such as F. esculentum (buckwheat) and F. tataricum (Tartary buckwheat). The genus is native to the Indian subcontinent, much of Indochina, and central and southeastern China. Species have been widely introduced elsewhere, throughout the Holarctic and parts of Africa and South America. Fagopyrum contains 15 to 16 species of plants, including two important crop plants, buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), and Fagopyrum tataricum (Tartary buckwheat). The two have similar uses, and are classed as pseudocereals, because they are used in the same way as cereals but do not belong to the grass family Poaceae. Within Fagopyrum, the cultivated species are in the Cymosum group, including Fagopyrum cymosum or perennial buckwheat, the artificial hybrid Fagopyrum × giganteum, and Fagopyrum homotropicum. This genus has five-petaled flowers arranged in a compound raceme that produces laterally flowered cymose clusters. The genus Fagopyrum was first published by Philip Miller in 1754. It is placed in the tribe Fagopyreae (as the only genus) in the subfamily Polygonoideae. As of March 2019, Plants of the World Online accepted the following species: