RHEUM PALMATUM. 125 



True Rhubarb; and Mesne describes three species, viz., India- 

 num, Barbarum, and Turcicum, and he recommends it in 

 dropsy, obstructions of the spleen, and jaundice. He appears 

 not to have been acquainted with the Rhaponticum ; and Avi- 

 cenna and Serapion seem not to have been acquainted with the 

 others. Ebn Baithar, the famous Arabian physician, has 

 written the most copious and instructive dissertation on the 

 subject. He gives an account of four distinct species, and re- 

 marks that the older physicians knew nothing of the purgative 

 kinds of Rhubarb, until they were discovered near to his time. 

 He recommends it in jaundice, dropsy, marasmus connected 

 with obstructions, and remarks that it is most useful in diar- 

 rhoea, with Indian spikenard. 



Description. — Rheum palmatum, known to gardeners as the 

 True Turkey Rhubarb * is a perennial plant. Leaves roundish- 

 cordate, half palmate, the lobes pinnatified, acuminate, deep dull 

 green, not wavy, but uneven, and very much wrinkled on the 

 upper side, hardly scabrous at the edge, minutely downy on 

 the under side ; sinus completely closed, the lobes of the leaf 

 standing forwards beyond it. Petiole pale green, marked with 

 short purple lines, terete, obscurely channelled quite at the 

 other end. Flowering stems taller than those of any other 



species (Lindley). 



Professor Guibourt {Hist, des Drogues) observes that, out of 

 the roots of the B. palmatum, undulatum, compactum, and 

 rhaponticum, those of the first species only possess the exact 

 odour and taste of the China Rhubarb. 



Geographical Distribution.— The Mongolian Empire, 

 China. East Indies. (?) Himalayas. (?) The exact locality from 

 whence the True Rhubarb comes is still a matter of doubt. It 



* This species is extensively cultivated at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, for the 

 supply of English Rhubarb to the London market. It is the kind frequently 

 observed in the show-bottles of druggists' windows, and was formerly sold in 

 Cheapside and the Poultry for "Turkey Rhubarb," by persons dressed up as 

 Turks (Pereira). 



