88 I)r J. Ilutton Iklfour 



RemarTcs on a Specimen of Eheum noLile (Hook. fil. and 

 Thomson) wliicli has flowered in the Royal Botanic 

 Garden, UdinhurgJi, in the Summer of 1880. By 

 J. II. Balfour, M.D., LL.D., Glasg. and Edin., 

 F.E.SS. L. and E., Emeritus Professor of Botany, 

 Edinburgh, (Plate I.) 



(Read lOtli June 1880.) 



In the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgli there are 

 numerous species of Eheum, which were noticed by me iu 

 a communication to the Society in 1879. Two of these 

 species, Rheuvn tanfjuticum and R. ^j^a^ma^wm, were de- 

 scribed, and the former figured in vol. xiii. of the " Trans- 

 actions." This year another species. Rheum nobile of Hook. 

 fil. (Sikkim Ehubarb), developed a flowering stalk in the 

 month of May, and has progressed ever since, producing a 

 fine pyramidal stalk of flowers, the beauty of which has 

 attracted much attention. 



The seeds of this beautiful species were sent to the 

 Garden about seven years ago by Dr King, Director of the 

 Calcutta Botanic Garden. The plant, I believe, has not 

 before flowered under cultivation in Europe. It occurs 

 abundantly on the Himalayan mountains in certain dis- 

 tricts. I understa-nd that specimens and seeds have on 

 several occasions been sent to Britain, but this is the only 

 plant which has flowered. I have therefore thought it 

 right to draw up a description of the plant, and to get a 

 figure of it, for the " Transactions" of the Society, sketched 

 by Miss Woon. 



The plant has excited much attention among the visitors 

 to the Garden. It is undoubtedly showy and interesting. 



It is figured on a large scale by Mr Fitch in Cathcart and 

 Hooker's splendid royal folio work on the Himalayan Flora. 



The peculiar colour of the bracts on the tapering floral 

 axis is striking and attractive, and has excited the interest 

 of all visitors. The plant looks like a conical tower, 

 covered with downwardly imbricated straw-coloured showy 

 bracts, which are strongly convex on their upper surface. 

 The plant has not yet produced ripe seed. In its native 



