Mr D. Don on the Rhubarb of Commerce* 305 



to Europe. Last spring, Mr Colebrooke received a quantity of 

 the ripe seeds from Dr Wallich, and presented a portion of them 

 to Mr Lambert, who has been so fortunate as to raise a number 

 of plants of this valuable vegetable. The seeds were sown in 

 pots, and, by the aid of artificial heat, soon vegetated. The 

 young seedlings were transplanted into separate pots filled with 

 rich earth, and the pots were gradually changed as the plants 

 increased in size. By this treatment, as might well be imagin- 

 ed, the young plants grew vigorously, and, at the end of autumn, 

 the leaves were from fifteen inches to a foot in breadth, and the 

 footstalks nine inches long, with half an inch of diameter. The 

 pjant, on examination, proved to be identical with my Rheum 

 australe *, from Gosaingsthan in the Himalaya Alps. I find 

 Dr Wallich calls it Rheum Emodi, a name which I should cer- 

 tainly have adopted, had I been aware of it before the publica- 

 tion of my work. The whole plant is thickly beset with nume- 

 rous, small, bristle-shaped, cartilaginous points, which give it 

 a rough feel. The leaves are of a dull green, and the footstalks 

 are red and deeply furrowed. The native samples I have seen 

 appear to be smaller in all their parts, and the leaves, although 

 flowering specimens, frequently not more than three or four 

 inches broad ; the footstalks four inches long, and slender, and 

 the flowering stem not above two feet high. It is curious to ob- 

 serve how well this description accords with what Sievers has 

 given us. The Rheum australe appears to be peculiar to the 

 great table lands of central Asia, between the latitudes of 31° and 

 40°, where it is found to flourish at an elevation of 11,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; and there is little doubt, therefore, 

 of its proving perfectly hardy in our own country. Large quan- 

 tities of the roots are annually collected for exportation in the 

 Chinese provinces within the lofty range of the Himalaya. The 

 best is that which comes by way of Russia, as greater care is 

 taken in the selection ; and on its arrival at Kiachta, within the 

 Russian frontiers, the roots are all carefully examined, and the 

 damaged pieces destroyed. This is the fine rhubarb of the 

 shops, called improperly Turkey Rhubarb. We have yet to 



* R. australe, foliis subrotundo-cordatis obtusis planis subtus margineque 

 scabris simi baseos dilatatis, petiolis sulcatis teretiusculis cum ramis pedun- 

 culisque-papilloso scabris, perianthii foliolis ovali-ablongis apice crenulatis. 

 — Don, Prod. Fl. Nepal, p. 75. 



