{"id":3372,"date":"2020-04-08T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T07:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-1042\/"},"modified":"2024-04-13T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T16:43:58","slug":"edible-buckwheat-and-cushion-buckwheat","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/edible-buckwheat-and-cushion-buckwheat\/","title":{"rendered":"Edible buckwheat and cushion buckwheat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What is the difference between the buckwheat plant that is used as an edible grain, and the wildflowers that are also called buckwheat? Are they related? I saw a plant growing on a ridge in the Olympic Mountains that was later identified for me as cushion buckwheat. Also, are there flowering buckwheats that people grow as ornamentals in gardens?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Edible buckwheat generally refers to <em>Fagopyrum esculentum<\/em>. If you were to find it growing wild in Washington State, it would be considered an escaped cultivated plant (i.e., weedy). It is sometimes grown as a cover crop, in addition to the use of its ground seeds for buckwheat flour. It is called a pseudograin or pseudocereal because it is not in the grass family (in the same way that amaranth, chia, and quinoa are pseudocereals).<\/p>\n<p>Cushion buckwheat is <em>Eriogonum ovalifolium<\/em>. Like <em>Fagopyrum<\/em>, <em>Eriogonum<\/em> is in the knotweed family\u2014<em>Polygonaceae<\/em>. There are about twenty native species of <em>Eriogonum<\/em> in Washington. Many of them grow east of the Cascades. Many more species of <em>Eriogonum<\/em> are native to California. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacifichorticulture.org\/articles\/beneficial-buckwheats\/\">This article<\/a> by Jennifer Jewell, <em>Pacific Horticulture<\/em>, April 2013 is a good introduction.) Many are best appreciated in the wild. If you want to grow buckwheat ornamentally, try to select a species that suits your garden conditions (ideally, in full sun, in soil that is well-drained and not overwatered, and mulched with gravel). Jewell&#8217;s article suggests that penstemon, salvia, and grasses might make good garden companions for the right species of <em>Eriogonum<\/em>. Plant expert <a href=\"http:\/\/lindacochran.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/eriogonum-umbellatum-sulphur-yellow.html\">Linda Cochran<\/a> has experimented with growing a variety of <em>Eriogonum umbellatum<\/em> in her Olympic Peninsula garden.<\/p>\n<p>Here is some interesting trivia about the scientific names for these different kinds of buckwheat, <em>Eriogonum<\/em>&#8216;s name is derived from Greek: Erio = wool \/ gony = knee, referring to hairy nodes of the first scientifically described species <em>E. tomentosum<\/em>. <em>Fagopyrum<\/em> comes from Latin fagus (beech) and Greek pyrus (wheat) because the achenes (dried fruits) resemble beechnuts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"taxonomy-keyword has-text-align-right wp-block-post-terms\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/eriogonum-ovalifolium\/\" rel=\"tag\">Eriogonum ovalifolium<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/fagopyrum-esculentum\/\" rel=\"tag\">Fagopyrum esculentum<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the difference between the buckwheat plant that is used as an edible grain, and the wildflowers that are also called buckwheat? Are they related? I saw a plant growing on a ridge in the Olympic Mountains that was later identified for me as cushion buckwheat. Also, are there flowering buckwheats that people grow as ornamentals in gardens? &nbsp; Edible buckwheat generally refers to Fagopyrum esculentum. If you were to find it growing wild in Washington State, it would&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/edible-buckwheat-and-cushion-buckwheat\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Edible buckwheat and cushion buckwheat<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[1043,1042],"class_list":["post-3372","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-eriogonum-ovalifolium","keyword-fagopyrum-esculentum"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/3372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=3372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}