Tartary buckwheat, also known as tartar buckwheat, is widely planted in southwest China. The stems of tartary buckwheat are often smooth and green, and there are often obvious anthocyanin spots at the base of leaves. There are loose racemes on all fruit branches. The flowers are small, purple-red, yellow-green, tasteless, with the same length of pistils and stamens, and are self-pollinated. Achenes are small, the edges are not obvious, some are wavy, the surface is rough, there are deep concave lines between the two edges, the shell is thick, and the fruit is slightly bitter.
Buckwheat skin can be used as a pillow. Compared with the sweet buckwheat shell, the permeability and hardness of bitter buckwheat shell are much worse, and the taste is slightly lower than that of sweet buckwheat shell, which is why bitter buckwheat shell is much cheaper than sweet buckwheat shell.
Buckwheat is one of the most cultivated varieties in China. The stems are slender, usually angular and reddish and green in color. There are no obvious spots or anthocyanins at the base of leaves. Racemes with umbels on the branches. Flowers are bigger, rose or red. There are two types of flowers, one is long style short stamen flower, and the other is short style long stamen flower. Usually, the flowers on the same plant are of the same type. Homologous cross-pollination is often not fertilized, and cross-pollination can bear fruit. Occasionally, there are flowers with equal length of pistils and stamens and a few incomplete flowers, which often do not bear fruit. There are obvious nectaries around the ovary, which are fragrant and beneficial to insect pollination. Achenes are large and triangular, with smooth surface and edges and good quality.