Review Paper
The Origin of Cultivated Buckwheat in Mankang 
District of the Sanjiang Area of Eastern Tibet and 
its Diffusion to India and the Himalayan Hills
Ohmi OHNISHI
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
DOI https://doi.org/10.3986/fag0042
To the memory of Ohmi Ohnishi, Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University and Editor Emeritus of FAGOPYRUM journal is re-
printed the paper, originally published in FOLIA BIOLOGICA ET GEOLOGICA 61/1 (2020), 7-15. 
Key words: buckwheat, wild ancestor, origin, diffusion, India, Himalaya, short day plant
ABSTRACT
Natural populations of the wild ancestor of cultivated common buckwheat were searched and collected, starting 
from its discovery in1990 and finishing the collections in 2005. Among the collections, the samples Zhuka, Xihe from 
Mankang district of Tibet are most closely related to cultivated common buckwheat.  On the other hand, cultivated 
populations of common buckwheat in Zhouba, Zhubalong both from Mankang district are most closely related with the 
wild ancestor of common buckwheat. This leads to the hypothesis on the origin of cultivated buckwheat in Mankang 
district in the Sanjiang area. The diffusion rout from the original birthplace to India and the Himalayan hills is proposed. 
Several characteristics of Indian and Himalayan common buckwheat are discussed. A main conclusion of the discussion 
is that the European buckwheat is not of Indian origin nor of the Himalayan origin. It probably came from the northern 
China through the Silk Road
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Fagopyrum 41 (2): 57-63 (2024)
1. INTRODUCTION
Since the time of de Candolle (1883), (a) what is the 
wild ancestor of cultivated common buckwheat and (b) 
where is the original birthplace of cultivated buckwheat, 
these two problems have been the main issues to be 
solved by buckwheat scientists.
The wild ancestor of cultivated buckwheat was clar-
ified as F. esculentum ssp. ancestrale Ohnishi, which 
was first discovered in 1990 in the Wulang river valley 
in Yongsheng district of Yunnan province, in China by 
Ohnishi (1991).  As for the birthplace of buckwheat, 
Ohnishi (2004, 2007, 2010, 2016, and 2018) has repeat-
edly claimed that the Sanjiang area of Yunnan, Sichuang 
provinces and east Tibet in China is the original birth-
place of cultivated buckwheat.
In the Himalayan countries, India, Nepal, Bhutan, 
and Pakistan, buckwheat is cultivated extensively and 
buckwheat is consumed well. Buckwheat in India and the 
Himalayan hills has some characteristics which are not 
seen in other regions such as China, Japan and European 
countries.
Today, I discuss the original birthplace of buckwheat 
in more details, and I consider the diffusion rout from the 
place of origin to India and to the Himalayan hills. Finally 
I discuss the characteristics of Indian and the Himalayan 
buckwheat. As a conclusion, I suggest that the cultivated 
buckwheat in European countries has never come from 
India nor from the Himalaya, it probably came from 
northern China through the Silk Road. 
2. THE EXACT ORIGINAL BIRTHPLACE OF 
COMMON BUCKWHEAT
The wild ancestor of cultivated common buckwheat 
was first discovered in Yongsheng district in Yunnan 
province of China in 1990 (Ohnishi, 1991). Ten-years 
searches for the wild ancestor in Yunnan and Sichuan 
provinces, and the searches in Mankang district of east-
ern Tibet in 2002 and 2004, and finally the searches in 
the Tongyi river valley and the Nyiru river valley in 2004 
and 2005 clarified the distribution areas of the wild an-
cestor of common buckwheat (Ohnishi, 2007, see also 
Ohnishi and Tomoyoshi, 2005). 
The wild ancestor is distributed in
1. The Sanjiang area of Yunnan province and eastern 
Tibet, 
2. Sporadic distribution in northwestern Yunnan prov-
ince and southwest corner of Sichuan province, and
3. The Tongyi river valley in Muli district of Sichuan 
province and the Nyiru river valley in Shangrila 
district of Yunnan province. Both the Tongyi river 
and the Nyiru river are small tributary of the Shui-
luo river, a tributary of the Jinshajiang river.
Among the collected wild ancestor populations, the 
wild ancestors from the Sanjiang area were revealed to 
be the most closely related with cultivated common 
buckwheat in AFLP variation (Konishi et al., 2005) and 
allozyme variability (see Figure 1, see Ohnishi and Nishi-
Photo 1: Cultivated common buckwheat in Sanjian area (Weixi 
district, Yunnan provice). Flower color in this area near the original 
birthplace is beautiful pink.
Photo 2: The wild ancestors growing in the Xihe river valley of 
Mankang district in eastern Tibet. The wild ancestors in this valley 
are genetically most closely related with cultivated buckwheat. 
Hence, the Xihe river valley along with the towns in northern Man-
kang district are considered as the original birthplace of common 
buckwheat.
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Ohnishi (2024): The Origin of Cultivated Buckwheat
moto, 1988 for the procedures of the electrophoresis and 
the names of enzymes analyzed). A part of the data on 
the frequencies of allozymes can be found in Ohnishi 
(2007). The N-J tree of Figure 1 was written following 
by Saitou and Nei (1987) using PAUP* version 4.0 (Swof-
ford, 1990, 2002).
The wild ancestors in the Tongyi river valley and the 
Nyiru river valley are highly variable in AFLP and al-
lozymes, however, the populations from those valleys 
are most distantly related with cultivated populations of 
common buckwheat (Fig. 1). The sporadically distributed 
ancestral populations in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces 
showed intermediate closeness to cultivated buckwheat 
(see Fig. 1).
This may leads to the conclusion that the Sanjiang 
area is the original birthplace of common buckwheat. 
Konishi and Ohnishi (2007) showed that close genetic 
relation between the wild ancestor in the Sanjiang area 
and cultivated populations is not due to recent hybridiza-
tion between them.
Figure 1. The N-J tree among 
the populations of wild ancestor 
and cultivated populations of 
buckwheat based on allozyme 
data.
The name of locations written 
in Chinese letters in the figure 
should be expressed in pinyin 
as is shown in blackets. Only 
the loctions appeared in text are 
listed bellow.
西河 (Xihe) 竹卡 (Zheke) 
阿東 (Adong) 塩井 (Yanjing) 
博科 (Boke) 塩源 (Yanyuang) 
金安 (Jinan) 永勝 (Yongsheng) 
尼通 (Nidong) 東義 (Tongyi) 
依吉 (Yiqi) 竹巴龍 (Zhebalong) 
巴塘 (Batang) 肋巴 (Zhouba)
N-J tree based on 
allozyme data
Cultivated
populations
Dongyi river Valley 
populations
Sanjian area  
populations
Photo 3: The cultivation of common buckwheat in Yanjing town of 
southern Mankang district. The brown part of the cultivated field 
is common buckwheat just before harvest. Yanjing town has a good 
weather condition for buckwheat cultivation and the wild ancestors 
of commom buckwheat are also growing at the margine of buck-
wheat fields, although those wild ancestors are not so closely related 
with cultivated buckwheat.
Photo 4: The landscape of northern Mankang district. Although 
this area is believed to be the original birthplace of common buck-
wheat, barley is mainly cultivated in cultivation fields.
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Fagopyrum 41 (2): 57-63 (2024)
Now, by observing Fig. 1 more carefully, you may find 
that the Zhuka population and the Xihe population from 
Mankang district are most closely related with cultivated 
populations. The Adong population (in Yunnan province) 
and the Yanjing population (close to the border between 
Yunnan and Tibet, see Fig. 2) are both from the Sanjiang 
area, but they are slightly far away from the cultivated 
populations as compared with the Zhuka and the Xihe 
popultions (Fig. 1).
Furthermore, by observing Fig. 1 from the cultivated 
population side, you may find that the cultivated popula-
tions of Zhubalong and Zhouba (both come from north-
ern Mankang district) are closely related with the wild 
ancestor of cultivated buckwheat (see Figs. 1 and 2).
Now, as a conclusion, we can say that the Yunnan part 
of the Sanjiang area is not involved in the origin of buck-
wheat cultivation, rather, Mankang district of the San-
jiang area, particularly, north part of Mankang district is 
the original birthplace of cultivated
buckwheat. So, it is reasonable that Wang (1986) re-
ported archaeological remains (buckwheat seed grains) 
in the archaeological site of Karuo village near Chamdu 
of east Tibet. This site is close to the original birthplace 
Mankang district of eastern Tibet (see Fig. 3).
3. DIFFUSION OF CULTIVATED BUCKWHEAT 
TO INDIA AND THE HIMALAYAN HILLS
Cultivated common buckwheat migrated from its 
original birthplace, the Sanjiang area of southwestern 
China to northern China first, then to the Korean pen-
insula and Japanese islands (Murai and Ohnishi, 1996). 
From northern China, cultivated buckwheat migrated 
west, to the central Asian countries, then to European 
countries through the Silk Road as I discussed in the pre-
vious 13th ISB (Ohnishi, 2016).
From the original birthplace of common buckwheat, 
Mankang district, cultivated buckwheat first went west 
(Murai and Ohnishi, 1996), overcoming high moun-
tains, the Hengdan mountains, in the three- river region 
(the Sanjiang area), and entered to the Yaruzanpu river 
basin, then finally arrived at Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and 
India. There exists only one rout connecting Mankang 
district in the Sanjian area and the Yaruzampu basin in 
Tibet as seen in Fig. 3. After arriving to these countries, 
it is easy for buckwheat to travel further west along the 
Himalayan hills, because the Himalayan hills may pro-
vide a comfortable cultivated conditions for cultivated 
buckwheat.
Only a few crops diffused through the same rout as 
buckwheat. Tea plant, Camelia chinensis, originated in 
Yunnan province in China, diffused through the same 
rout as common buckwheat and became an important 
cultivated plant in India and the Himalayan hills. Only 
the crop diffused opposite direction from the Himalayan 
hills to the Sanjiang area is the finger millet (Eleusine cora-
cana), originated in Africa. It arrived at the Indian sub-
continent, India and Pakistan. Then it diffused to south-
ern China, through the same rout as of buckwheat, but in 
the opposite direction (Hoshikawa, 1992).
As shown in Fig. 3, the Karuo archaeological site, from 
where the oldest buckwheat seed grains were reported, is 
located not so far away from the original birthplace of 
cultivated buckwheat. Along the diffusion rout, wild per-
ennial buckwheat, F. cymosum ssp. pillus (syn. Fagopyrum 
Figure 2. Distribution of the wild ancestor of cultivated common 
buckwheat in Mankang district of the Sanjiang area. :  
village or town where the wild ancestor was found. Northern 
population such as Zhouba, Zhuka and Xihe are close to cultivated 
populations (see Fig. 1)
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Ohnishi (2024): The Origin of Cultivated Buckwheat
pillus Chen, see Chen, 1999) and a weed species F. gra-
cilipes are found, near to Dongmai village, Bomi district of 
Tibet, and Paro of Bhutan, respectively (see Fig. 3).
It is well-known that F. cymosum growing in the west 
of the Yaruzampu grand canyon is all tetraploid, and is of-
ten called F. dibotris in Nepal and India (see Hara, 1972).
4. CHARACTERISTICS OF BUCKWHEAT IN 
INDIA AND IN THE HIMALAYAN HILLS
Here, I mention several characteristics of buckwheat 
and buckwheat cultivation in India and the Himalayan 
hills.
4-1. buckwheat cultivation as a fresh vegetable in 
India
Both common buckwheat and Tartary buckwheat are 
cultivated as a fresh vegetable in India, rather than as a 
grain crop. As a result of long history of cultivation as 
a fresh vegetable, local varieties for such purpose have 
become the varieties with very small grains. I observed 
such a small grain variety in Bageshwar town, the state 
of Uttar Pradesh, west India. This custom of buckwheat 
use as a fresh vegetable is found both in eastern India and 
western India.
4-2. Common buckwheat in India and in the Hima-
layan hills is a short day-length plant
Common buckwheat in India and in the Himalayan 
hills is usually cultivated in fall to early winter, from Sep-
tember to December. As a result of cultivation under the 
condition of mild temperature and of short day-length, 
buckwheat in India and the Himalayan hills have become 
short day-length plant, with characteristics of tall vigor-
ous vegetable parts with relatively longer cultivation pe-
riod as compared with buckwheat from northern China 
and Japan.
European common buckwheat has the characteristics 
of long-day to neutral day-length plant as the descend-
ants of diffused buckwheat through the Silk Road (Ohni-
shi, 1993, 2016). The characteristics of buckwheat in the 
Himalayan hills, short-day plant, is opposite to the char-
acteristics of European buckwheat, day-neutral to long 
day-length plant. This leads to the conclusion that Euro-
pean buckwheat does not have the origin in India nor in 
the Himalayan hills.
Figure 3. Diffusion rout of culti-
vated buckwheat from Mankang 
district in the Sanjiang area to 
India and the Himalayan hills. 
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Fagopyrum 41 (2): 57-63 (2024)
4-3. Making buckwheat noodle by hands in Ladakh 
of India
Buckwheat noodle was not developed well in Nepal, 
India, and Pakistan.
Two methods of making buckwheat noodle (Ohnishi, 
2016), one using a noodle making wooden equipment, I 
call this as a Chinese method, one using special cooking 
knife to cut and make fine noodle of buckwheat dough. I 
call this as a Japanese method. 
Neither methods diffused to Nepal and India. In Bhu-
tan a buckwheat noodle making equipment, called Put-
ta in Bhutan, is used, hence buckwheat noodle is served 
as a dairy food. If peoples know neither methods, what 
happens for them? In a section of this symposium, Mr. 
Inazawa and his group will report the method for making 
buckwheat noodle by hands in Ladakh of India, where 
peoples make buckwheat noodle by their own hands only 
without using any special equipments, such as putta in 
Bhutan or special kitchen knife as in Japan.
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Hoshikawa, K., 1992. Edible Crops. Yokendo, Tokyo (in Japanese).
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IZVLEČEK
Izvor gojene ajde na območju distrikta Mankang območja Sanjiang Vzhodnega Tibeta in razširitev v Indijo ter 
na območje Himalaje
Iskali in zbirali so naravne populacije divjega prednika gojene navadne ajde, začeli so leta 1990 in zaključili 2005. 
Med zbranimi vzorci je bil vzorec Zhuka, Xihe iz Mankanga, Tibet, najbolj soroden gojeni navadni ajdi. Po drugi strani, 
vzorca gojenih ajd iz Zhouba in Zhubalonga, oboje iz Mankanga, sta najbolj sorodna divjemu predniku navadne ajde. Na 
osnovi tega lahko oblikujemo hipotezo o izvoru gojene ajde v Mankangu na območju Sanjianga. Pot širjenja od prvot-
nega izvora v Indijo in na območja gorovja Himalaje je predlagana v tej razpravi. Avtor opisuje lastnosti navadne ajde v 
Indiji in na območju Himalaje. Glavni zaključek je, da ajda v Evropi ne izvira iz Indije ali z območja Himalaje. Verjetno je 
v Evropo prišla iz Severne Kitajske po Svilni poti.
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