Rheum.'] cxix. POLYGONACE^K. (J. I). Hooker.) 57 



Unfed. Pharm. Bot. i. 455. ? R. australe, Don Prodr. 75, Hayne Arnz. 

 Geivaclis. 12, t. 6 ; Nees PL Ojffic. Suppl. 5, t. 5, 6 ; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. 

 t. 269. 



SFBALPINE and ALPINE HIMALAYA; Nepal, WallicJi; Sikkim, Ic. Cathcart; 

 ? Simla, on Choor, alt. 11-12,000 ft., Edgeworth. 



Soot very stout ; stem very stout, 5-6 feet high, streaked green and brown. 

 Radical leaves often 2 ft. diam., papillose beneath, subscaberulous above; petiole 

 12-18 in., very stout, scaberulous. Panicle 2-3 ft., with erect strict branches; flowers 

 in. diam. Fruit | in. long, purple, wings narrower than the disk. I am not 

 quite satisfied as to the synonymy of this plant, for it is difficult to distinguish it in a 

 dried state from R. Webbianum. Wallich's are the only native specimens I am sure 

 about ; for the Sikkim locality I depend on an excellent drawing in the Kew collection, 

 made by Mr. Cathcart's artists in Darjiling. Edgeworth's has the larger flowers of 

 this, but the habit aud glabrous panicle of emodi. 



5. R. acuminatum, Hook. f. fy Thorns, mss. in Bot. Mag. t.4877 ; 

 stem leafy, leaves long-petioled triangular- or orbicular-ovate acuminate 

 base cordate 5-7-nerved, panicles papilloseiy puberulous fastigiately 

 branched and leafy, flowers dark red, fruit ovoid-oblong base cordate tip 

 entire or notched, wings narrower than the nucleus. 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA ; alt. 10-13,000 ft., J. D. H., Clarke. 



Probably only a small form of R. emodi with acuminate leaves, but the flowers are 

 considerably larger, and though long under cultivation it does not attain half the size 

 of that plant, or vary in its character. 



6. R. Webbianum, Hoy le III. 318, t. 17 a; stem leafy, leaves long- 

 petioled orbicular- cordate or reniform 5-7 nerved papillose or glabrous, 

 tip rounded or subacute, panicles axillary and terminal quite glabrous, 

 flowers pale yellowish, fruit broadly oblong or orbicular notched at both 

 ends. E. emodi, Wall. Cat 1727 C; Herb. Strach. & Winterb.-, Herb. 

 H.f. Sf T. 



CENTRAL and WESTERN ALPINE HIMALAYA; from Nepal to Kashmir, alt. 

 10-14,000 ft. 



Very variable in size, from 1 to 6 ft. high, with leaves 4 in.-2 ft. in diameter; 

 flowers very much smaller than in R. emodi, the panicle less strict and quite glabrous, 

 and the fruit broader (J in. diam.), with broader wings more like that of C. spici- 

 forme. Royle describes the leaves as somewhat hairy above, but they are quite 

 glabrous in most of the specimens. The habit differs a good deal from that of 

 jR. emodi, the inflorescence being more axillary, and its branching more diffuse after 

 flowering. The flowers are not above T ' 2 in. diam., on capillary pedicels without 

 bracts. 



**** Stem simple ; panicles axillary concealed by bullate bracts. 



7. R. nobile, HooTc.f. Sf Thorns.- III. Himal. PL t. 19 ; stem simple 

 densely clothed with reflexed inflated imbricating (downwards) bladder-like 

 reticulated bracts which conceal the short axillary panicles, leaves ovate- 

 oblong or rounded base cuneate or cordate, fruit broadly ovoid 2-4-winged, 

 disk tuberculate. Meissn. in DC. Prodr. xiv. 1. 36. 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA; in the interior ranges, alt. 13-15,000 ft, J. D. H., Clarke. 



Hoot very long, 3 in. diam. and under. Leaves very coriaceous, 1 foot diam. and 

 under, usually edged with red, upper passing into the bracts ; petiole 2-6 in., stout ; 

 stipules voluminous, 6-8 by 4-6 in., rose-red. Stem 3-4 ft., as thick as the wrist 

 below, deeply grooved. Bracts orbicular, 6 in. diam., pale straw-coloured, reticulate, 

 deciduous in age. Panicles 3-4 in., branched, glabrous ; and flowers crowded, T ' 5 in. 

 diam., green. Fruit $ in. long. Gill, in his " River of the Golden Sands," speaks of 



