Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Buckwheat - Fagopyrum esculentum   Moench
Members of Polygonaceae:
Only member of Fagopyrum in NC.
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Section 6 » Order Polygonales » Family Polygonaceae
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AuthorMoench
DistributionFound across much of the state, with large gaps in the western and central Piedmont and the northern Coastal Plain. The website editors have not looked at label data for all collections, and some specimens may have been from sown plants.

Native of China; in N.A. throughout the U.S. and southern Canada.
AbundanceUncommon in the eastern Piedmont, rare in the Mountains, Sandhills, and southern Coastal Plain. Frequently planted as a wildlife food plant and as a cover crop.
HabitatFields, fallow fields, edges of waterfowl impoundment, drawdown beds of lakes, gamelands, powerlines.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting June-November.
IdentificationCommon Buckwheat is most often 6 inches to a foot tall, but potentially much taller. The lower stem leaves are well-spaced, broadly triangular, taper-pointed, and sometimes vaguely 3-lobed. The upper stem leaves are smaller, narrower, sessile, and clasp the stem. The small white to pinkish flowers grow in clusters from leaf axils; for a member of the Family Polygonaceae, the flowers are rather large and attractive. The fruits are light brown, 3-angled.
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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US Status
USACE-agcp
USACE-emp
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