Perennial buckwheat flowering

Perennial buckwheat (Fagopyrum cymosum complex, sometimes called Fagopyrum dibotrys) is a perennial vegetable that is sometimes used as medicine.  It is mostly grown as a leaf vegetable, or the rhizomes are eaten, or the leaves are fed to poultry and livestock, while only occasionally the seed is eaten. 

I have never seen perennial buckwheat seed, but am told it is smaller than common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) or tatrary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum).  Perennial buckwheat seed is meant to be highly nutritious, and (while this is hard to believe) studies show it to be even higher in protein than either of these annual species. 

Perennial buckwheat is also called 'golden buckwheat' or 'tall buckweat'.  I believe it gets the name golden buck wheat because in autumn the leaves take on an incredible golden yellow colour beforegoing dormant over winter.  It gets the name tall buck wheat because with support the plants can grow taller than me.  This perennial vegetable is rather impressive.  

Perennial buckwheat flowers 

Perennial buck wheat is very vigorous and productive, its leaves and rhizomes are eaten commonly in developing nations across the Himalayas.  Perennial buckwheat has been used as food for centuries, yet for some reason this is not grown or eaten in Western nations.  My perennial buckwheat seems to need a bit of water, and tends to suffer if the soil gets too dry.  Other than that it seems pretty indestructible.  

The flowers of perennial buckwheat are small, white, and produced in large numbers.  Each stalk produces flowers, and each group of flowers contains many flowers that open sequentially over a long period of time.  Each spray will have some flowers that have faded, others will currently be open, and others will still be immature buds.  

Having many flowers opening over such a long time means it provides food for beneficial insects for a very long time.  This is good for my garden.  It attracts pollinators, and it feeds other beneficial insects. 

Perennial buckwheat flowers are small and numerous

Common buckwheat is an annual plant.  These are largely self incompatible,  and usually only set seed if you have two or more genetically unique plants.  I don't know if perennial buckwheat is also self incompatible or not, but I am suspecting that it may be.

While I have a number of perennial buckwheat plants, I only have one clone of perennial buckwheat.  Every plant I have is genetically identical to all the others that I grow.  This is not ideal. 

Each stalk produces a spray containing many flowers, but so far it is reluctant to set seed in my garden.  From the hundreds, if not thousands of flowers it produces, not a single seed from my perennial buckwheat was set.  

Perhaps it needs a second clone to set seed well, perhaps it does not enjoy my conditions, perhaps it lacks the right kind of pollinators in my garden, or maybe it was just not a great year for seed set and future years will be fine.  At this stage I don't know. 

I am told it will cross with tartary buckwheat, and the resultant plants are said to display a great deal of hybrid vigor.  I grow common buckwheat, but have never seen tartary buckwheat for sale.  I know it is in the country, but can't find it for sale anywhere.  Hopefully some day I track down some and see how it grows here.  I would love to create this cross, and see how vigorous the hybrids can be.  

Perennial buckwheat leaves and flower buds

Until recently I only grew my perennial buckwheat in pots, and it always seems to want deeper soil.  This plant spreads underground.  It appears to perform better in my deeper pots, and it always tries to escape through the drainage holes.  

I wonder if I grew it in the garden if it would cope better with dry conditions and be more likely to set seed.  I am reluctant to plant it in the ground because I have heard that perennial buckwheat can be so vigorous that it is difficult to control when in the garden.  

Despite my hesitations, I am trialing growing some perennial buckwheat in the soil just outside the chicken's run.  This will get a lot of the nutrients from the chickens, plus it will be in deep soil, and hopefully this will produce strong plants.  So far the hens keep reaching through the wire and eating it, so I need to protect it a little better.  I want the chickens to eat this plant, but I don't want them to eat it to death.

I figure by planting it in soil near the chicken's run it should spread underground via rhizomes, and pop up away from the initial planting site.  Some will be eaten by the hens and provide them with nutritious feed, some will spread into the lawn and be mown, and some will hopefully be in that perfect zone where it can grow tall and potentially set seed.  

More perennial buckwheat flowers

I don't know why perennial buckwheat is so rare in Australia.  It is such a vigorous grower, and so nutritious, that it should be grown more commonly in backyards where it can add to household food security.  Perennial buckwheat leaves can be eaten as vegetables, or they can be fed to chickens, or can be used in the compost.

Hopefully when my perennial buckwheat flowers next it produces a few viable seeds.  If not, I will still enjoy this plant for the valuable leaf vegetable that it is and I will feed the leaves to my chickens to lower the feed bill.  I am told it makes a good cut flower, but I'm not sure if the flowers are pretty enough for this purpose and may leave them so they continue to feed beneficial insects. 

Perennial buckwheat is a great producer and an excellent permaculture plant.  At this stage very few places in Australia sell perennial buckwheat plants, and I hope this changes in the near future.  I am mostly experimenting with this plant to see what it can do, I have high hopes that it will act as a significant source of feed for our chickens.  If I have extra perennial buckwheat plants, I will offer try to some for sale through my for sale page.