Rheum.] CXIX. POLYGONACEX, (J. D. Hooker.) | 57 
Med. Pharm. Bot. i. 455. ? R. australe, Don Prodr. 75, Hayne Arnz. 
Corachs. 12, t. 6; Nees Pl. Offic. Suppl. 5, t. 5,6; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. 
. 269. . 
SUBALPINE and ALPINE HIMALAYA; Nepal, Wallich; Sikkim, Ic. Cathcart; 
? Simla, on Choor, alt. 11—12,000 ft., Edgeworth, . 
Root very stout; stem very stout, 5-6 feet high, streaked green and brown. 
Radical leaves often 2 ft. diam., papillose beneath, subscaberulous above; petiole 
12-18 in., very stout, scaberulous. Panicle 2-3 ft., with erect strict branches; flowers 
$ in. diam. ‘Fruit 3 in. long, purple, wings narrower than the disk.—I am not 
quite satisfied as to the synonymy of this plant, for it is difficult to distinguish it in a 
dried state from R. Webbianum. Wallich’s are the only native specimens I am sure 
about; for the Sikkim locality I depend on an excellent drawing in the Kew collection, 
made by Mr. Cathcart’s artists in Darjiling. Edgeworth's has the larger flowers of 
this, but the habit and glabrous panicle of emodi. 
5. R. acuminatum, Hook. f. § Thoms. mss. in Bot. Mag. t.4877 ; 
stem leafy, leaves long-petioled triangular- or orbicular-ovate acuminate 
base cordate 5-7-nerved, panicles papillosely puberulous fastigiately 
branched and leafy, flowers dark red, fruit ovoid-oblong base cordate tip 
entire or notched, wings narrower than the nucleus. 
SIKKIM HIMALAYA; alt. 10-13,000 ft., J. D. H., Clarke. 
Probably only a small form of R. emodi with acuminate leaves, but the flowers are 
considerably larger, and though long under cultivation it does not attain half the size 
of that plant, or vary in its character. 
6. R. Webbianum, Royle Ill. 318, t. 17 a; stem leafy, leaves long- 
petioled orbicular-cordate or reniform 5-7 nerved papillose or glabrous, . 
tip rounded or subacute, panicles axillary and terminal quite paora, 
flowers pale yellowish, fruit broadly oblong. or orbicular notched ath : 
ends. R. emodi, Wall. Cat. 1727 C; Herb. Strach. d Winterb.; Herb. 
H.f.& T. | 
TU TS and WzsrERN ALPINE HixALAYa; from Nepal to Kashmir, alt. 
> ft. . in di ; 
Very variable in size, from 1 to 6 ft. high, with leaves 4 in.-2 ft. in doe. 
Owers very much smaller than in R. emodi, the panicle less strict and quite ra ron ; 
and the fruit broader (4 in. diam.), with broader wings more like that of C. 2H ite 
forme.—Royle describes the leaves as somewhat hairy above, but they ribet of 
glabrous in most of the specimens. The habit differs a good deal from t after 
- emodi, the inflorescence being more axillary, and its branching more diffuse afte 
i . . . . L . t 
recta. E The flowers are not above j, in. diam., on capillary pedicels withou 
**** Slem simple; panicles axillary concealed by bullate bracts. 
7. R. nobile Hook. f. & Thoms.; Ill. Himal. Pl. t.19; stem simple 
densely clothed with T deni fn died imbricating (downwards) bladder-like 
reticulated bracts which conceal the short axillary panicles, leaves ova 1. 
oblong or rounded base cuneate or cordate, fruit broadly ovoid 2-4-winged, 
disk tuberculate, Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 36. 
SIKKIM HIMALAYA; in the interior ranges, alt. 13-15,000 ft., J. D. Jr, Clarke. | 
Root very long, 3 in. diam. and under. Leaves very coriaceous, 1 foot | ar jat . 
Under, usually edged with red, upper passing into the bracts; petiole 2-6 p pen 
wiPules voluminous, 6-8 by 4-6 in., rose-red. Stem 3-4 ft. as thick as eei late 
low, deeply grooved. Bracts orbicular, 6 in. diam., pale straw-coloured, aed. 4 im 
jduous in age. Panicles 3 4 in., branched, glabrous; and flowers crowded, yp in, 
m, green. Fruit 4 in. long.—Gill, in his “ River of the Golden Sands,” speaks 
