RHEUM NOBILE. 



RIIEUM NOBILE. 



"The present is certainly the most striking of the many fine Alpin(^ plants of Sik- 

 kinij and th(iu<;h in every botanical character, as also in the acid juice of the stem, 

 a genuine lUnibarb, it differs so remarkably in habit and general appearance from 

 any of its congeners, that at first sight it could not be recognised as one of them. 

 T first saw it from a distance of fully a mile, dotting the black cliffs of the Lachen 

 A'alley at 14,000 feet elevation, in inaccessible situations, and was quite at a loss to 

 conceive what it could be ; nor was it till I had turned back the curious bractea 1 

 leaves and examined the flowers, that I was persuaded of its being a true Rhubarb. 

 "The individual plants of llheum nobile are upwards of a yard high, and form 

 conical towers of the most delicate straw-coloured, shining, semi-transparent, concave, 



imbricating bracts, the up- 

 per of which have pink 

 edges; the large, bright, 

 glossy, shining, green, radi- 

 cal leaves, with red petioles 

 and nerves, forming a broad 

 base to the whole. On 

 turning up the bracts the 

 beautiful membranous, fra- 

 gile, pink stipules are seen 

 like red silver-paper, and 

 within these again the short- 

 branched panicles of insig- 

 nificant green flowers. The 

 root is very long, often many 

 feet, and winds amongst the 

 rocks; it is as thick as the 

 arm, and bright yellow in- 

 side. After flowering, the 

 stem legthens, the bracts 

 separate one from another, 

 become coarse red-brown, 

 withered and torn; finally, 

 as the fruit ripens they fall 

 away, leaving a ragged look- 

 ing stem covered with pani- 

 cles of deep brown pendu- 

 lous fruits. In the winter 



