Tas. 4877. 
RHEUM ACUMINATUM. 
Sharp-leaved Sikkim Rhubarb. 
Nat. Ord. Potyconem®.—ENNEANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 
_ Gen. Char. Perianthium 6-partitum, persistens. Stamina 9, perigonii foliolis 
exterioribus geminatim, interioribus singillatim opposita. Stigmata 2-3. Cary- 
opsis late alato-triquetra, basi perigonio emarcido stipata.—Herbe perennes Asia- 
tice, foliis amplis, floribus pantculatis v. spicato-racemosis. 
RHEUM acuminatum ; tripedale, ramosum, puberulum, foliis late cordatis acumi- 
natis, petiolis ramisque panicule sulcatis granulatis, panicula composita 
ramis strictis erectis, floribus (pro genere) majusculis, perianthii segmentis 
subzequalibus late oblongis. 
Rum acuminatum, Hook. Jil. et Thoms. MSS. 
— The subject of this Plate, which is the common Rhubarb of 
the Sikkim Himalaya, so closely resembles in most respects the 
well-known 2. Hmodi, Wall. (2. australe, Don, see our Tab. 3508) 
that we long hesitated about the propriety of describing it as a 
different species ; after however having seen both cultivated for six 
years in the Royal Gardens at Kew, we find no tendency in the 
present to assume either the stature or the better-marked bota- 
nical characters of R. Hmodi; and as the cultivated specimens 
further retain all the distinctive features of the wild ones, which 
were gathered in several distant localities, there can be little 
doubt but that the two are permanently distinct. The pro- 
minent characters of R. acuminatum are, its small stature and 
slender habit, never exceeding a yard in height; its relatively 
much broader leaves, which terminate in a long acuminate point ; 
its flowers being three or four times the size of those of 2. 
modi, and the segments of the perianth nearly equal, broader, 
and more rounded. It inhabits rocky places, often amongst 
brushwood in the subalpine and alpine regions of the Himalaya 
of Sikkim and East Nepal, at elevations of 9—13,000 feet ; the 
stems are pleasantly acid, and, though more dry and stringy 
than those of 2. Hmodi, may be used for tarts; the root is 
spongy, and but slightly, if at all, medicinal. 
YCTOBER Ist, 1855. 
