56 cxix. POLYGONACE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) [jRheum. 



coriaceous orbicular broadly ovate or cordate glabrous or stellately puberu- 

 lous beneath, racemes 1-3 glabrous, fruit broadly ellipsoid or oblong, wings 

 broader than the disk. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 36. R. Moorcroftianum, 

 Meissn.l. c. (not of Royle} -, Herb. Ind. Or. H.f. # T. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; in the drier ranges, from Kumaon, alt. 14-16,000 ft. west- 

 wards to WESTERN TIBET, alt. 9-14,000 ft., abundant. DISTRIB. Affghumstun. 



Soot short or long, thicker than the thumb. Leaves all radical, 6-12 in. diam., 

 very leathery, with prominent radiating nerves and reticulated nervules beneath, 

 red-brown in age; petiole 3-6 in., very stout, glabrous or puberulous. Racemes 

 1-3, radical, 4-12 in., strict, dense-fld. ; peduncle and rachis stout, glabrous; bracts 

 minute, ovate, scarious ; flowers ^ in. diam., on capillary pedicels. Fruit jj-% in. 

 long, 3-4 times as long as the oblong obtuse sepals, tip rounded or notched, wings 

 membranous ; pedicel half as long as the fruit or less. 



2. R. Bloorcroftianum, Royle III. 315, 318; leaves all radical 

 thickly coriaceous orbicular glabrous or stellately puberulous beneath, 

 racemes pubescent, fruit ovoid, wings narrow. Wall. Cat. 1727, in part. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; Kumaon, Moorcroft in Serb. Wallich. 



I am uncertain about this plant, which differs from R. spiciforme in the very 

 much larger pubescent peduncles and racemes, which together are two feet long, and in 

 the form of the fruit. The only specimens are Wallich's, are very bad, and have 

 neither locality nor collector's name. They are ticketed " large broad-leaved small- 

 stalked Rhubarb ; the root more purgative than the long-stalked." Another sheet 

 has attached to it a ticket in the same handwriting, " narrow round-leaved long- 

 stalked Rhubarb." R. Moorcroftianum is written in pencil on the sheets, I think by 

 Royle (certainly not by Wallich). Hence they are no doubt the plants mentioned by 

 Royle (111. PI. Himal. 315) as brought by Moorcroft from Niti, alt. 12,000 feet, in 

 Kumaon, and of which Royle says that " Major Hearsay, Moorcroft's companion, has 

 described two kinds to me, one round-leaved and short-stalked, and the other short- 

 stalked, but large and broad-leaved (R. Moorcroftianum, nob.) with the root more 

 purgative than that of the former." From this it appears that Royle, not Wal- 

 lich, as hitherto supposed, is the author of R. Moorcroftianum ; and that Meissuer is 

 further in error in describing it as everywhere glabrous. 



** Stemless species. Flowers panicled ; panicles leafless. 



3. R. tibeticuxn, Maxim, mss. ; leaves very coriaceous orbicular- 

 cordate and short thick petioles scaberulous, fruit nearly orbicular notched 

 at both ends, wings very broad. Bheum, No. 6, Herb. H. f. 8f T. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA; Zanskar, Thomson; Kashmir, Baiji la, alt. 12,000 ft., 

 Clarke. WESTERN TIBET ; common, alt. 12-14,000 ft., Thomson, &c. 



Root very stout. Leaves 6-12 in. diam., entire or crenulate, nerves 5 very stout 

 radiating from the petiole which is 4-8 in. long and as thick as the finger. Panicles 

 puberulous or quite glabrous, with the peduncle 410 in. high, fruiting a foot high ; 

 branches erecto-patent, simple or again branched ; fruiting peduncle very thick, deeply 

 grooved ; bracts very minute ; flowers ^ in. diam., pedicels short. Fruit J in. long 

 and. broad, four times as large as the unchanged sepals ; wings much broader than the 

 nucleus. Resembles R. leuoorhizum, Pall., but none of the sepals enlarge in fruit. 



*** Stem branched and panicle leafy. 



4. R. emodi, Wall. Cat. 1727 ; stem tall leafy, leaves long-petiole d 

 very large orbicular or broadly ovate obtuse base cordate 5-7-nerved, 

 panicle papillosely puberulous fastigiately branched and leafy, flowers dark 

 purple, fruit ovoid-oblong base cordate apex notched wings narrow. Meissn. 

 in Wall. PI. As. Rar. iii. 65, and in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 35 (exclude syn. 

 Webbianum] ; Bot. Mag. t. 3508. B. emodium, Wall. mss. ; Nees $ Eberm. 



