a 
( 3508 ) 
Rueum Emopr. Orricinat Ravurare. 
ie he ee ee a ae a as a 
Class and Order. 
ENNEANDRIA T'RIGYNIA. 
( Nat. Ord.—Potyeonez. ) 
Generic Character. 
Perianthum simplex, 6-partitum, persistens, laciniis al- 
ternis minoribus. Achenium triquetram, perianthio majus, 
marginibus membranaceo-marginatis. Stigmata verrucoso- 
papillata. 
Specific Character and Synonyms. 
Ruaeum * Emodi; foliis rotundato-cordatis scabriusculis, pe- 
tiolis lateraliter compressis pedunculisque sulcatis ver- 
rucoso-scabris, racemis compositer elongatis  strictis, 
floribus minutis atro-sanguineis. . 
Rueum Emodi. Wall. MSS. Cat. E. I. C. Mus. n. 1727. 
Ruevm Australe. Don, Prodr. Nep.p. 75. Sweet, Br. Fl. 
Gard. t. 269. Spreng. Syst. Veget. v. 4. (cur. post.) 
7200. a : 
The true officinal Rhubarb, long known in commerce, 
as one of the most valuable of drugs, had been considered by 
different writers and travellers, as the root of either Ruzum 
undulatum, R. compactum, R. Rhaponticum, or in the opin- 
ion of the majority of authors, of R. palmatum ; but it does 
not appear that any one had ascertained the fact in the coun- | 
try whence the Rhubarb had been imported, so that no de-— 
pendance can be placed upon these statements. Indeed, 
being a native of the vast range of the Thibetian and_ 
Himalaya mountains, it was scarcely possible that the plant _ 
itself could be known to Europeans, until that vast and 
interesting region was visited by Dr. Watuicu and his 
collectors. There, at Emodus, a mountainous district of 
Gossam Than, by Dr. Watuicu, and about Kamoun by 
* From Rha, the river so called, now the Volga ; because the true Rhu- 
4arb was supposed to be derived from thence. 
