Buckwheat, Fagopyrumesculentum Moench, is a pseudograin since it is not a member of the grass family. It is planted for the grain, as cover crop, and as honey plant that makes a dark honey. The fruit resembles a beechnut, but it is smaller. Once hulled it can be used the same way and any grain except that it does not have any gluten. The hulls can be used to stuff pillows. Buckwheat is an Old World species, but the wild buckwheat found in North America belongs to the genus Eriogonum Michx., but only a couple of species are found in Alabama near the northwest and southeast corners respectively.
