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(Sourced from the Song Dynasty *Jiayou Bencao*)

[Names] Qiaomai (pronounced like "Qiao"), Wumai (as called by Wu Rui), Huaqiao.
Li Shizhen said: The stems of *Fagopyrum esculentum* (Buckwheat) are weak and curved; it is easy to grow and harvest, and when ground into flour, it resembles wheat flour. Hence it is called Qiao and Mai, sharing the same name as wheat. Commonly, it is also called Tianqiao (Sweet Buckwheat) to distinguish it from Kuqiao (Bitter Buckwheat). Yang Shen in *Danqian Lu* identified Wumai as Avena sativa (Oats), likely because he had not read *Riyong Bencao*.

[Collection and Explanation] Bing said: To cook buckwheat rice, it must be steamed thoroughly until the heat penetrates, then sun-dried intensely until the grains split open, pounded to remove the husk, and the kernels used for cooking.
Li Shizhen said: Buckwheat is grown in both northern and southern regions. Sowing occurs around Start of Autumn (Liqiu), and harvesting takes place in the eighth and ninth lunar months. Its nature is most fearful of frost. The seedlings are one to two chi high, with red stems and green leaves, resembling the leaves of *Sapium sebiferum* (Chinese Tallow Tree). It bears small white flowers, dense and brilliant. The fruits hang in clusters, resembling those of *Rumex* (Sheep Sorrel), with three angles; when mature, they turn dark black. Wang Zhen's *Nongshu* states: It is widely cultivated in the North.
Ground into flour, it is made into pancakes and eaten with garlic. Or it is made into soup noodles, called Helou, serving as a daily food; it is smooth and fine like powder, though inferior to wheat flour. The South also cultivates it, but only makes it into flour pastries for food; this is the winter grain for farming households.

[Flavor and Properties] Sweet, neutral, cold, non-toxic.
Sun Simiao said: Sour, slightly cold. Difficult to digest after consumption. Long-term consumption stirs wind, causing dizziness. Eating it mixed with dough alongside pork or mutton while hot, within eight or nine meals, will induce Wind-Heat disease, leading to the loss of beard and eyebrows; regrowth is rare. In the regions north of Jingzhou and Yuanzhou, many suffer from this ailment. Furthermore, it should not be eaten with yellow croaker.

[Indications] Strengthens the intestines and stomach, supplements Qi and strength, sustains spirit, and can refine the filth of the five zang organs (Meng Shen). When cooked as rice, it suppresses toxicity from cinnabar and stone minerals, which is very effective (Xiao Bing). Mixed with vinegar and applied as a paste, it treats erysipelas-induced redness, swelling, and heat sores in children (Wu Rui). Descends Qi and widens the intestines, grinds away stagnation, resolves heat swelling and wind-pain, eliminates turbid discharge and leukorrhea, and treats spleen accumulation with diarrhea. Taking two qian of stir-fried buckwheat flour mixed with sugar water treats dysentery. Stir-fried until charred and taken with hot water treats intestinal colic pain (Li Shizhen).

[Elucidation] Ying said: The Materia Medica states that buckwheat can refine the filth of the five zang organs. Folk wisdom says that material accumulated in the intestines and stomach over a year can be eliminated by eating it.
Li Shizhen said: Buckwheat is best at descending Qi and widening the intestines; thus, it refines intestinal stagnation and treats diseases such as turbid discharge, diarrhea/dysentery, abdominal pain, and rebellious Qi. It is suitable for those with abundant Qi and damp-heat. However, if people with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach consume it, it will severely deplete original Qi and cause hair loss, which is inadvisable. Meng Shen's claim that it supplements Qi and strength is likely incorrect.
Note: Yang Qi's *Jianbian Fang* states: For slight abdominal pain accompanied by immediate, frequent but scanty diarrhea, using buckwheat flour alone to make rice and consuming it three or four times consecutively leads to recovery. I suffered from this condition for two months during my prime, becoming extremely emaciated. Digestive-promoting and Qi-regulating medicines were ineffective. A monk taught me this remedy, and I recovered. Subsequently, others who used it also found it effective. This confirms its power to resolve stagnation. It is also used in *Puji Fang* for treating infant opisthotonos and bi-syndrome affecting joints.

[Attached Prescriptions] Sixteen new prescriptions.
Cough with rebellious Qi: Four liang of buckwheat flour, two qian of tea powder, two liang of raw honey, one bowl of water. Stir vigorously in one direction a thousand times. Drink; after a while, the rebellious Qi descends.
Edema of ten areas with wheezing: One qian of fresh *Euphorbiae Pekinensis Radix* (Sheng Daji), two qian of buckwheat flour. Mix with water to form cakes, roast until cooked, and grind into powder. Take on an empty stomach with tea; stop when urination and defecation become normal.
Male turbid urine: Wei Yuanjun's Jisheng Dan: Use buckwheat roasted until charred and ground into powder. Mix with egg white and roll into pills the size of sophora seeds. Take fifty pills each time, washed down with salt water, three times a day.
Red and white leukorrhea: Same prescription as above.
Anorectic dysentery: Two qian of buckwheat flour each time, taken with sugar water (Tanxian Formula).
Carbuncles, back sores, and all kinds of swellings/toxins: Two liang each of buckwheat flour and sulfur. Grind into powder. Mix with well water to form cakes, dry in the sun, and store. Each time, use one cake... [Text fragment implies application].
Black and depressed carbuncle head: Boil and eat buckwheat flour; it will raise the sore to the surface (*Zhizhi Fang*).
Ulcerated smallpox: Frequently apply buckwheat flour (*Douzhen Fang*).
Scalds and burns: Stir-fry buckwheat flour until yellow, grind into powder, mix with water, and apply. Miraculous effect (*Qixiao Fang*).
Snake-ring scrofula encircling the neck: Equal parts of buckwheat (stir-fried and hulled), *Sargassum* (Haizao), and *Bombyx Batryticatus* (Bai Jiangcan, stir-fried and silk removed). Grind into powder. Soak white plum in water, take half the flesh, mix with the powder, and roll into pills the size of mung beans. Take sixty to seventy pills each time after meals and before bed, washed down with rice drink, five times a day. The toxin will be excreted through the large intestine.
Accumulation and stagnant blood: Tongxian San: Treats stagnant accumulation in men and stagnant blood in women without damaging true Qi. Use three qian of buckwheat flour and two and a half qian of *Rhei Radix et Rhizoma* (Dahuang). Grind into powder... [Text fragment].
Head wind with aversion to cold: Li Lou said: A person suffered from head wind, wrapping his head in heavy cotton for thirty years without cure. I used two sheng of buckwheat flour, mixed with water to form two cakes, and alternately applied them to the head. Recovery occurred with slight sweating (*Guai Zheng Qi Fang*).
Head wind and wind-eye: Make buckwheat cakes the size of coins, apply to the four corners of the eyes, and moxa with rice-sized cones. Immediate miraculous effect.
Hair dyeing to black: Two qian each of buckwheat and hematite (Zhen Sha). Mix with vinegar. First wash with grain water, apply the mixture, wrap with lotus leaf for one double-hour (geng), then wash off. Wash again with clear wine, and the hair turns black (*Puji Fang*).
Intestinal colic pain: A pinch of buckwheat flour, stir-fried until yellow, boiled in water and taken (*Jianbian Fang*).
Small intestine hernia: Four liang each of buckwheat kernels (stir-fried and tips removed) and *Trigonellae Foenum-Graeci Semen* (Huluba, soaked in wine and dried); one liang of *Foeniculi Fructus* (Xiao Huixiang, stir-fried). Grind into powder, bind with wine paste... [Text fragment].

[Indications of Leaves] Eat as vegetables; descends Qi, benefits ears and eyes. Excessive consumption causes mild diarrhea (Shiliang. Sun Simiao said: Raw consumption stirs piercing wind, causing body itching).
[Indications of Stalks]
[Indications of Straw] Burn to ash, leach with water to obtain alkali, boil dry. Mix equally with *Duan Shi* (Calcined Oyster Shell), preserve with honey. Can rot carbuncles, erode foul flesh, and remove facial nevi; very effective. The chaff serves as bedding to repel bedbugs (Li Shizhen. *Rihua Bencao* says: Leach ash with water to wash livestock sores, and hooves of donkeys and horses.)

[Attached Prescriptions] Two new prescriptions.
Dysphagia: One qian of buckwheat straw ash-leachate evaporated to white frost, plus one qian of borax. Grind into powder. Take half a qian with wine (*Experience Posterior Formulas*).
Bedbugs and centipedes: Use buckwheat straw as bedding, and burn smoke to fumigate.