BUCKWHEAT, the seeds of various species of Fagopyrum, chiefly F. esculentum, a herbaceous plant, native of central Asia, but cultivated in Europe on account of its seeds. The seeds, as enclosed in their dark brown tough rind, are three-sided in form, with sharp angles, similar in shape to beech-mast, whence their name from the German Buchweizen, beechwheat. Buckwheat is grown in Great Britain only to supply food for pheasants and to feed poultry, which devour the seeds with avidity. In the northern countries of Europe, however, 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. The meal of buckwheat is also baked into crumpets, as a favourite dainty among Dutch children, and in the Russian army buckwheat groats are served out as part of the soldiers’ rations, which they cook with butter, tallow, or hemp-seed oil. Buckwheat is also used as food in the United States; and by the Hindus it is eaten on “bart” or fast days, being one of the phalahas or lawful foods for such occasions., When it is used as food for cattle the hard sharp angular rind must first be removed. 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. According to Payen it contains—nitrogenous matter 13*10 per cent., starch 64’90, fat 3Ό0, water 13’00, cellulose and ash 6Ό0. An immense quantity of buckwheat honey is collected in Russia, bees showing a marked preference for the flowers of the plant. A dye-stuff is obtained from the leaves of a species of buckwheat, Polygonum tinctorium, which may be used for producing a yellow or olive ...