The genus Fagopyrum Mill. is an important crop which can be used as food, forage and medicine. China is the largest producer of tartary buckwheat and the world’s diversity center of buckwheat., while the southwest China is internationally recognized as the original-land of buckwheat. The crop germplasm are fundamental materials for production, cultivar development and biotechnology research, which is of great importance and potential values. Since the 1980s, Chinese researchers has collected more than 3000 cultivated germplasm resources, of which more than 2200 are preserved in the long-term bank. The extremely abundant and rich diversified germplasm resources have spread all around the world after the natural evolution, artificial cultivation and introduction. This review summarized the common buckwheat and tartary buckwheat distribution,,collection and preservation, as well as the identification and evaluation of agronomic characters and nutritional quality of germplasm resource in recent 40 years. Meanwhile, this paper introduced the progress of collection and evaluation of buckwheat germplasm resources in other countries and organizations, which may provide the reference for the protection and rational utilization of these precious germplasm resources. What’s more,, we summarized the wild buckwheat species (including varietas and subspecies) and their distribution status, including their main characteristics and variation, and summed up the research about development and utilization of different species. Except for a few species, such as F. cymosum, most of wild buckwheat resources were widely distributed in the southwest of China, and mainly inhabited in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan border area. Finally, the study discussed the insufficiency and expectation in exploitation of buckwheat germplasm resources, and put following suggestions for the future researches:(1)Continuously improve the evaluation and quality identification of the buckwheat germplasm resources, and establish a comprehensive, systematic and quantitative evaluation system for the agronomic traits, nutrient components, processing quality, taste quality. (2)To promote buckwheat industry development healthily, orderly and quickly, developing the potential crop distribution and economic value of buckwheat and accelerating the breeding based on original and introduced germplasms . (3) More attention should be paid to the problems in the deterioration of living environment of wild buckwheat. Especially the living environment of some wild species(F. statice, F. gilesii, F. crispatofolium and F. hailuogouense) get worse, and the area scatters narrower. It is urgent to intensify the rescue investigation, collection and protection of wild resources.(4) Making further analysis on the functions of key genes and regulatory genes in the biosynthesis pathway of buckwheat flavonoids, especially rutin, and the mechanism of molecular regulatory network at the molecular level.