BUCKWHEAT, the fruit (so-called seeds) of Fagopyrum esculentum (family Polygonaceae), an herbaceous plant, native of central Asia, but cultivated in Europe and North America; also extensively cultivated in the Himalaya, as well as an allied species F. tataricum. The fruit has a dark brown tough rind enclosing the kernel or seed, and is three-sided in form, with sharp angles, similar in shape to beech-mast, whence the name from the Ger. Buchweizen, beechwheat. In the northern countries of Europe the seeds are employed as human food, chiefly in the form of cakes, which when baked thin have an agreeable taste, with a darkish somewhat violet colour. Buckwheat is largely grown in the United States and Canada, where "buckwheat cakes" are es teemed as a cereal delicacy. As compared with the principal cereal grains, buckwheat is poor in nitrogenous substances and fat; but the rapidity and ease with which it can be grown render it a fit crop for very poor, badly tilled land. An immense quantity of buckwheat honey is collected in Russia.
In Great Britain it is not of sufficient importance to be separ ately distinguished in the annual agricultural returns, but it is estimated that about 1,75oac. are devoted to its cultivation in England and Wales. It is mainly used in England for feeding pheasants, for which it is considered specially suitable, and poul try, but it is also valuable for other kinds of farm stock. The crop is sometimes sown for feeding off green by sheep, or for ploughing in as green manure.