Buckwheat

Fagopyrum esculentum

COMMON NAMES

• Beech Wheat
• Buckwheat
• Common Buckwheat

Buckwheat is an annual herb (up to 0.7 m), with soft-textured, heart-shaped leaves and small white or pinkish flowers arranged in clusters at the tips of the stems. The fruits are small, strongly angular nutlets with a floury endosperm, known as buckwheat. It is a pseudo cereal, the flour of which has been used since ancient times.

PARTS USED

Aerial parts.

USES

The herb is used to treat the symptoms of capillary and venous disorders (including bleeding, varicose veins, bruising, retinal hemorrhage, edema, hemorrhoids, bleeding gums and poor circulation). It has become popular as a food supplement and is available in health food stores. It is an important natural source for the isolation of rutin. Others are Eucalyptus macrorhyncha leaves (10-24%), Viola tricolor var. maxima flowers (20%) and Styphnolobium japonicum flower buds (up to 30%). The latter is a tree formerly known as Sophora japonica.

Rutin and other flavonoids exhibit vascular protective, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. They help to improve the elasticity of veins and to promote circulation but also have a wide range of other biological activities (because their phenolic hydroxyl groups can interact unspecifically with proteins).

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Buckwheat is native to central and northern Asia. The herb is cultivated in many parts of the world as a cereal crop, and also for the extraction of flavonoids.

CONSTITUENTS

The activity of buckwheat leaves is attributed mainly to flavonoids (or so-called bioflavonoids) of which rutin (quercetin-3-rutinoside) occurs in high yields (normally 2-3%, and up to 8% in improved cultivars). The flowers and seed husks contain dianthrones (0.03%), notably fagopyrine.

USUAL DOSAGE

A tea can be made by adding 2 g of the dried herb to 150 ml water. Two to three cups are taken daily for a period of four to eight weeks. Preparations are available that contain the dried herb, enriched extracts or pure flavonoid extracts.

SIDE EFFECTS AND CAUTIONS

The fruits are sometimes used to stuff pillows. Fagopyrine may cause photo toxicity in animals when large amounts of the herb have been consumed.

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