SEARCH FOR THE WILD ANCESTOR OF BUCKWHEAT - III - THE WILD ANCESTOR OF CULTIVATED COMMON BUCKWHEAT, AND OF TATARY BUCKWHEAT

By surveying wild Fagopyrum species and their distribution in southern China and the Himalayan hills, I arrived at the conclusion that the n ewly discovered subspecies F. esculentum ssp. ancestralis Ohnishi is t he wild ancestor of cultivated common buckwheat, while previously know n wild tatary buckwheat, F. tataricum ssp. potanini Batalin is the wil d ancestor of tatary buckwheat. Their original birthplace is revealed to be northwestern corner of Yunnan province for common buckwheat judg ing from the distribution of wild ancestor, and to be the northwest pa rt of Sichuan province for tatary buckwheat judging from allozyme vari ability in wild tatary buckwheat. F. cymosum is not the ancestor of cu ltivated buckwheat; it is only distantly related to cultivated buckwhe at, in morphology, isozymes and cpDNA. Several genetic, ecological and taxonomic categories which should be taken into consideration in exam ining the origin of buckwheat were discussed.