buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum

Mom used to say buckwheat is good for you. Those pancakes were OK. But now I've learned a new word from it! Pseudocereal. Things like amaranth, quinoa, marsh elder and buckwheat are pseudocereals because they're not grass. The seeds are harvested and milled like wheat or oats or those other grasses, but not good enough to be real members of the club? They don't get used much these days, but once were very important. Buckwheat is one of the most ancient crops, going back at least six millennia. Now I mostly encounter it where DNR has planted it for wildlife. Buckwheat for the bucks? It has been found wild in AR, HI, MS, NV, TX, UT, LB, NT, and NU. Beal Gardens, MSU, 7/27/11. Knotweed family, Polygonaceae.