Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Rhubarb and relatives
POLYGONACEAE
More than 800 species are members of the knotweed family. The common family name
comes from the segmented structure of their stalks with their knot-like bulges.
Two genera in this family include plants that are grown as vegetables: dock and sorrel
(
Rumex
) and rhubarb (
Rheum
). The pseudocereal buckwheat is also a member of this family,
as are several ornamental plants like silver lace vine (
Fallopia aubertii
). Several other knot-
weeds, although both edible and even ornamental, are considered noxious weeds (e.g., Japan-
ese knotweed,
Reynoutria japonica
).
BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Knotweed family plants are monoecious, and their flowers are either
perfect or single-gendered. The flowers are for the most part small and sit individually on stalks.
Overview of the knotweed family
COMMON NAME
GENUS
SPECIES
buckwheat
Fagopyrum
esculentum
rhubarb
Rheum
rhabarbarum, rhaponticum
dock, sorrel
Rumex
spp.
BUCKWHEAT
Fagopyrum esculentum
Buckwheat has long figured in Alpine mountain farming, usually grown as a second crop after the grain
harvest in early summer. In eastern Austria, buckwheat was grown as the primary crop, traditionally
used for food and for fodder. In recent decades, buckwheat has been grown significantly less, though it
is still popular among organic farmers and home gardeners as a green manure plant or as bee forage.
Buckwheat seeds can be used just like cereal grains and are gluten-free.
Tartary buckwheat (
Fagopyrum tataricum
) was once grown for flour and livestock feed. It has all but
disappeared in the intensive agriculture of western Europe but is often found in plots of local buckwheat
varieties. It is a selfer with greenish white flowers that are of no interest, even to bees.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
• 10-20 ft.
2
(1-2 m
2
) of plants or a buckwheat field
