460 



RH E 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RH E 



a separate small pot, filled with fresh light earth ; and if 

 they are plunged into a moderate hot-bed, it will greatly 

 promote their taking root; but in May they must be inured 

 to the open air by degrees, into which they should be soon 

 after removed. Thus these plants should be managed while 

 young ; but when they are three or four years old, some of 

 them may be planted in the full ground against a warm wall 

 or pale, where, if they have a dry soil, they will endure the 

 cold of our ordinary winters pretty well, but must be sheltered 

 in hard frosts ; so that it will be prudent to reserve a few 

 plants housed during winter. 



45. Rhamnus Spina Christi ; Syrian Christ's Thorn. 

 Prickles in pairs, straight; leaves ovate, acute, toothed, 

 smooth ; fruits oblong, pedicelled, eatable, and pleasant. 

 In all probability, says Hasselquist, this is the tree which 

 afforded the crown of thorns put on our Saviour's head. It 

 seems very fit for the purpose, for it has many sharp thorns, 

 well adapted to give pain. The crown might be easily made 

 of these round pliant branches ; and as the leaves much 

 resemble those of Ivy, it is probable that our Lord's enemies 

 would prefer this plant, for resembling that with which em- 

 perors and generals used to be crowned. Native of Pales- 

 tine, Ethiopia, and Barbary. 



Rhapis; a genus, according to Linneus, of the class Poly- 

 gamia, order Moncecia; Thunberg places it in the class Hex- 

 andria, order Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : 

 perianth minute, rigid, inferior, one-leafed, trifid. Corolla: 

 one-petalled, trifid, larger than the calix ; segments erect, 

 concave, deciduous. Stamina: filamenta six, awl-shaped; 

 antherse roundish, two-lobed. Pistil: germen superior, three- 

 lobed ; style short, awl-shaped; stigma obtuse. Pericarp: 

 berry roundish-ovate. Seed: solitary, roundish, bony. 06- 

 serve. The flowers are often polygamous or dioecious. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix: trifid. Corolla: one-petalled, 

 trifid. Stamina : six. Pistil : one. The species are, 



1. Rhapis Flahelliformis ; Creeping -rooted Rhapis, or 

 Ground Rattan. Fronds palmate, plaited ; plaits and mar- 

 gins prickly toothletted ; stem arboreous, lofty. Besoms are 

 made of the thin netted-bark of the trunk. It flowers in 

 August. Native of China and Japan. 



2. Rhapis Arundmacea; Simple-leaved Rhapis. Fronds 

 two-parted ; lobes acute, plaited ; plaits somewhat rug-ged. 

 Native of Carolina. 



Rheedia ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 petals four, obovate, concave, spreading. Stamina: fila- 

 menta very many, filiform, longer than the corolla; antherse 

 oblong. Pistil: germen globular; style cylindrical, the 

 length of the stamina; stigma funnel-form. Pericarp: small, 

 ovate, succulent, one-celled. Seeds: three, ovate-oblong, 

 marked with characters, very large. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix : none. Corolla : four-petalled. Berry: three- 

 seeded. The only species is, 



1. Rheedia Lateriflora. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, quite 

 entire, smooth. A tree, native of South America. 



Rheum ; a genus of the class Enneandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Corolla: perianth inferior, 

 one-leafed, narrowed at the base, with a six-cleft border; 

 the segments blunt, alternately small, shrivelling. Stamina: 

 filamenta nine, capillary, inserted into the corolla, and of 

 the same length with it; antherse twin, oblong, blunt. Pis- 

 til: germen short, three-sided; styles scarcely any; stigmas 

 three, reflexed. feathered. Pericarp: none. Seed: single, 

 large, three-sided, acute, with membranaceous margins. Es- 

 SI-.VTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: six-cleft, permanent. Seed: 

 one, three-sided. The species are, 



1, Rheum Rbapontrcum ; Rhapontic Rhubarb. Leaves 

 blunt, smooth; veins somewhat hairy underneath; the sinus 

 at the base dilated; petioles grooved above, and rounded at 

 the edge. Root large and thick, dividing into many strong 

 fleshy fangs, running deep in the grbund, reddish-brown out- 

 side, yellow within ; stems from two to three feet high, jointed, 

 purple; leaves not expanded at first, but folded, smooth, round- 

 ish-cordate, on thick, reddish, channelled stalks, which have 

 an acid flavour, and used for making pies and tarts ; flowers 

 white, becoming a panicle of large, triangular, brown seeds-. 

 This species is now commonly cultivated in gardens for the 

 sake of the footstalks of the leaves, which are peeled and 

 made into tarts in the spring. The root is the part made 

 use of in medicine, and is much of the same nature with that 

 of the true Rhubarb, only it is less purgative and more astrin- 

 gent : if it is wanted to purge, the dose must be two or three 

 drachms ; but though it is weaker in this respect, it is a much 

 better stomachic than the trun Rhubarb. Native of Syria. All 

 the plants of this genus are propagated by seeds, which should 

 be sown in autumn soon after they are ripe, where the plants 

 are designed to remain. When the plants appear in spring, let 

 the ground be hoed over, to cut up the weeds ; and if the seed- 

 lings themselves be too close, some should be cut up, leaving 

 them at the first hoeing six or eight inches asunder, at the 

 second eighteen inches or more. As soon as any weeds ap- 

 pear, scuffle the ground over with a Dutch hoe in dry weather; 

 and as soon as the plants cover the ground with their broad 

 leaves, they will keep down the weeds of themselves. In 

 autumn, when the leaves decay, clean the ground, and in the 

 spring, before the plants begin to put up their new leaves, 

 dig the ground between, or at least hoe and clean them. In 

 the second year, many of the strongest plants will produce 

 flowers and seeds ; but in the third year, most of them will 

 flower and seed ; and the seed ought not to be permitted to 

 scatter, but should be gathered when ripe. The roots will 

 remain many years without decaying. These plants delight 

 in a rich soil, which is not too dry or moist. 



2. Rheum Undulatum ; Wave-leaved Rhubarb. Leaves 

 subvillose, waved ; the sinus at the base dilated ; petioles flat 

 above, acute at the edge. The root divides into a number 

 of thick fibres, which run deeper into the ground than those 

 of the first species, and are of a deeper yellow colour within. 

 Native of China and Siberia. 



3. Rheum Palmatnm ; Officinal, or Turkey Rhubarb. 

 Leaves palmate, acuminate, somewhat rugged ; the sinus at 

 the base dilated ; petioles obscurely grooved above, rounded 

 at the edge. Root perennial, thick, of an oval shape, and 

 sends off long tapering branches; externally it is brown, 

 internally of a deep yellow colour ; stem erect, round, hollow, 

 jointed, sheathed, slightly scored, branched towards the top, 

 from six to eight feet high. This species cannot be mistaken, 

 if we attend to its superior height, the ferruginous or reddish- 

 brown colour of the stem, branches, and petioles, the pal- 

 mate form of the leaves, and the elegant looseness of the 

 little panicles of greenish-white flowers. Linneus adds, that 

 the vernal bud is not red, but yellow ; that the leaves are 

 somewhat rugged ; and that their segments are oblong and 

 sharpish. Native of China and Tartary. It was not until the 

 year 1732 that botanists knew any species of Rheum from 

 which the true Rhubarb seemed likely to be obtained. Nor 

 was this species at first very generally received as the genuine 

 plant, until Boerhaave procured from a Tartarian Rhubarb- 

 merchant the seeds of the plants which produced the roots 

 he annually sold, and which were, admitted at St. Petersburgh 

 to be the real Rhubarb. These seeds, on being sown, pro- 

 duced two distinct species : the first species, above described; 



