351 111. POLYGONACES. 
Committee of Shanghai, said to be from the borders of Tibet, 
and strongly resembling, in foliage, at least, R. officinale, Baill. 
There is also a plant of the Cochinchina Rhubarb, introduced 
by Mr. Pierre, the Director of the Botanie Garden at Saigon, 
which is either the same or a closely allied species. The last is 
R. Pichonii, Pierre, of which we have found no description. 
3. Rheum palmatum, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. 2, p. 581; Meisn. in 
DO. Prodr. xiv. p. 84; Hope in Phil. Trans. iv. 1765, p. 290, 
tt. 12 et 18; Pall. Fl. Ross. ii. 1, tt. 22 et 23; Hayne, Arz- 
neigew. xii. t. 10; Bentl. et Trim. Med. Pl. t. 2145 Maxim. in 
Regels Gartenflora, xxiv. p. 8, t. 819 (var. tanguticum); Trans. 
Edinb. Bot. Soc. xiii. t. 14; Bretschn. Early Res. p. 107. 
Kansun: western alpine regions around Koko-nor (Przewalski 
ex Maximowicz). 
The late Mr. C.J. Maximowicz, in a letter to Professor D. Oliver, 
dated St. Petersburg, 4 Aug., 1889, states that the Rhubarb 
cultivated for the drug in Western Kansuh is certainly Rheum 
palmatum, Linn. The last time Przewalski took roots of it to 
St. Petersburg was in 1881, Mr. Maximowiez believed ; * and 
they were distributed to chemists and medical men there to be 
tested, and were found to agree with the old Moscow Rhubarb in 
quantity of effective matter and action on the stomach." Plants 
were also raiscd from seed, and yielded at first a drug of fair 
quality, but the roots soon deteriorated in the unfavourable 
climate of St. Petersburg. From the evidence before us it seems 
clear that two or three species of Rheum yield the drug equally 
excellent in quality, the quality depending primarily on the 
climate where the plant grows or is cultivated. In the commu- 
nication from which we have already quoted, Mr. Maximowiez 
states that in the elevated dry steppes of Dahuria Rheum Rha- 
ponticum, Linn., is found equal in quality to and used like the 
true Chinese Rhubarb. 
He further states that a kind of Rhubarb grown in Eastern 
Kansuh, of which Potanin collected only leaves, is different from 
that in Western Kansuh; but he was unable to determine the 
species, though it might be R. officinale, Baill., or possibly the 
R. Pichonii, Pierre. 
4. Rheum pumilum, Maxim. in Mél. Biol. x. p. 686. 
Kawsum: western alpine region (Przewalski!) Herb. Kew. 
