Buckwheat
Fagopyrum esculentum Moench
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae (dock, buckwheat)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Natural Enemies Attracted: Medium numbers
of Orius insidiousus, Chalcidoidea and Nabidae,
small numbers of Empididae, Thomisidae,
Cynipoidea, Coccinellidae, Dolichopodidae, and
Braconidae, Syrphidae, Salticidae, Aeolothripidae,
Chrysopidae and Sphecidae.
Pests Attracted: Large
numbers of lygus bugs.
Medium numbers of
Japanese beetles. Small
numbers of leafhoppers,
aphids, thrips, froghoppers
and leaf beetles.
Bees attracted: Moderate
numbers (between 1-5 bees
per meter square in a 30
second sample) of bees
including yellow-faced bees,
Andrenid bees, and sweat
bees.
Species Notes: Clusters of white blossoms formed a carpet from 1-2 ft tall on this species. When
seeded in mid-May this plant bloomed from mid-July through early August. Buckwheat may be used
as a cover crop and harvested as a field crop. Its triangular seeds are ground to make buckwheat flour.
This plant species was the fifth most attractive to natural enemies of the mid season plants, with
twice as many natural enemies as the grass control.
Developed by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler and Rufus Isaacs; Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please
note: The information presented should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no
warranty about the use of the information presented here.
About the Plant Species Graph:
Average number of beneficial
insects collected at each plant
species the week before, during, and
after peak bloom, for plant species
blooming from mid-August through
early October (+ standard error).
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)
boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies
are in green, bars for bees are in
yellow. Bars for native plants are solid
and nonnative plants are striped. The
black line on the top graph shows
the number of natural enemies in
grass with no flowering plants (grass
control). Plants are listed in order of
peak bloom.
Plant Species Graph
Habitat: Native to central Asia, requires full sun to partial
sun. Grows quickly in heat, and tolerates dry periods.
Volunteers in agricultural fields, successional fields, and
developed land.
Cultivation and Management: As an annual, flowers
from seed in the first growing season. May be fall sown
for earlier summer bloom. Buckwheat re-seeds, so must
be mown before going to seed or will become established
in the area. Although it does escape from cultivation, it is
not long persistent as an escape. We saw no evidence of
deer or other vertebrate browsing on this species.
Availability: Species is available as seed from some seed
catalogs.
For more information: View the online USDA-NRCS
PLANTS database
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