254 



NATURE 



[May 24, 1917 



An appeal has been made to history to supply an 

 authority for consuming rhubarb-leaves now, and 

 some prominence has been given to the statement 

 which reposes in some books of considerable authen- 

 ticity that they were used as a pot-herb in Queen 

 Elizabeth's time. If they really were so used, and 

 even with perfect safety, and Vvere then "considered 

 to be superior to spinach or beet," it is poor comfort 

 to offer to those who in 1917 are suffering the tortures 

 of poisoning arising as a consequence of eating them. 

 That numerous cases of more or less serious illness, 

 and at least one fatality, as reported within the last 

 few weeks in the daily Press, have followed the 

 eating of rhubarb leaf-blades, is accepted/ ^s a fact 

 which should leave no doubt in one'e mind that they 

 form to many people an unwholesome and even a 

 dangerous food. 



In inquiring into the use of rhubarb, mainly with 

 the view of getting evidence from the records of the 

 past as to the use of its leaves as a vegetable, and 

 what were the opinions held regarding such a practice 

 by those who have gone before, some notes which 

 here and there may contain fragments of interesting 

 and useful information have been accumulated, and 

 may be worth putting on record in a collected form. 



It is not intended to go far into the botany of 

 rhubarb. The vexed question of the source, or 

 sources,- of medicinal rhubarb has led to much con- 

 troversy. That does not concern us here. The 

 rhubarb used for culinary purposes to-day appears to 

 have originated from more than one .species. Some 

 writers attribute its origin' to Rheum Rhaponticiint, 

 Linn., and there seems no reason to doubt that it 

 was this species that was first used in this country 

 for culinary purposes, as well as being the first 

 grown in England for its medicinal root. Moreover, 

 it was the first species introduced into cultivation 

 here, and from earlv times has been known as Eng- 

 lish rhubarb. Another species believed to be the 

 parent of culinary rhubarb is R. undulatum, Linn., 

 introduced in 1734, while R. hyhridtim, Murr., which, 

 according to. Alton, was introduced in 1763 by Dr. 

 John Hope, F.R.S., who had a garden at Upton, 

 West Ham. is claimed by some authors as the original 

 source of the common garden rhubarb o- to-day. All 

 three, and probably other species, are involved in its 

 parentage. For many years it has been cultivated in 

 many varieties differing in size and colour of leaf- 

 stalks, flavour, and in degree of earliness. 



Evelyn did not appear to know the rhubarb plant. 

 He does not allude to it in his "Acetaria." Nor can 

 we get any evidence from other writers of his time 

 to support the reiterated statement that Rheum 

 Rhaponticum was introduced in 1573, and our inves- 

 tigations induce .is to say that whatever else flourished 

 in this country in Queen Elizabeth's reign no species 

 of Rheum had any chance at all, for none was in the 

 gardens of her day. Whatever delights and good 

 times the Elizabethans had, they owed nothing to a 

 dish of stewed rhubarb or a rhubarb-tart, and what- 

 ever bad times — whatever pains they endured — could 

 not be laid to the charge of rhubarb-leaves in any 

 form. The delights arising from the former were re- 

 served for a much later, if not more fortunate, genera- 

 tion, and the tortires arising from the latter for our 

 more immediate forefathers in some degree, but chiefly 

 for ourselves. 



We have suggested that the statement that rhubarb- 

 leaves were used as a pot-herb in Queen Elizabeth's 

 time cannot be trusted. It is apparently based on a 

 mistake which originated out of a confusion of terms. 

 John Gerard described and figured a certain plant in 

 the first edition (1597) of his famous "Herball," under 

 the name of Hippolapathuin sativum, Patience, or 

 Munkes (Monkes) Rubarbe, the last name "bicause 



NO. 2482, VOL. 99} 



as it should seeme some Monke or other have used 

 the roote heereqi in steede of Rubarbe." This, he 

 says, " is an excellent, holsome potherbe," but " it is 

 not so pleasant to be eaten as either Beetes or Spin- 

 age." There is no doubt whatever that this plant is 

 not a true rhubarb, but is a dock, and has been 

 rightly referred by careful writers to Rumex Patientia, 

 Linn., Herb Patience, a native of Southern Europe and 

 the Orient. The name, "Monk's rhubarb," has also 

 obtained currency in many works, including Syme's 

 edition of " English Botany," for Rumex alpinus, 

 Linn., a dock with large, roundish, radical leaves, 

 found occasionally in this country, presumably as an 

 escape from cultivation. This plant was knojwn to 

 Gerard, who included it in his "Herball" under the 

 name of Ilippolapathum. rotundifolium (Bastarde 

 Rubarbe), and he cultivated it in his garden • in Hol- 

 born. Both these docks were evidently in gardens of 

 the sixteenth centuiy, and possibly long before, and 

 were cultivated as pot-herbs, or the latter, according 

 to Gerard, as a medicinal plant. Medicinal rhubarb 

 was known to Gerard, but evidently only in the form 

 of the dried root, which he figures. No evidence has 

 been discovered to prove that any species of the true 

 rhubarb (Rheum) was in cultivation in England 

 before early in the- seventeenth century, when John 

 Parkinson, some time (probably not many years) be- 

 fore 1629, obtained a plant of what is now regarded 

 as Rheum Rhaponticum, Linn. This he cultivated, 

 and it is figured and described in the first edition of 

 his " Paradisus Terrestris," 1629, under the name of 

 Rhaponticum verum seu potius Rhabarbarum verum. 

 Of it he wrote: — "I have a kinde of round leafed 

 Dock growing in my Garden, which was sent me 

 from beyond Sea by a worthy gentleman, Mr. Dr. 

 Matth. Lister, one of the Kings Physitians, with this 

 title, Rhaponticum verum, and first grew with me, 

 before it was ever seen or known elsewhere in Eng- 

 land." After some reference to the character and 

 medicinal properties of the roots, he continued :^' The 

 leaves have a fine acide taste. A syrrupe therefore 

 made with the juice and sugar, cannot but be very 

 effectuall in dejected appetites, and hot fits of agues ; 

 as also to helpe to open obstructions of the liver, 

 as divers have often tryed, and found availeable by 

 experience." 



By some curious blunder Monk's rhubarb has also 

 been identified with Rheum Rhaponticum ; hence in 

 many works it is stated that this plant was introduced 

 in 1573, apparently on no better evidence than is sup- 

 plied by the fact that Tusser included the name 

 " rubarb " in his " Five Hundreth Points of Good 

 Husbandry" of that date. In the edition of 1672 

 this name, without any qualification whatever, occurs 

 in a list under the heading, "necessary herbs to grow 

 in the Garden of Physick, not rehearsed before."' 

 This "rubarb" is probably Rumex Patientia, or R. 

 alpinus— m " English Botany " it is represented as 

 the latter. It is practically certain that it was not 

 Rheum Rhaponticum. 



It will be noticed that Parkinson refers to the fine 

 acid taste of the leaves of the rhubarb which he culti- 

 vated. It is not clear whether he was alluding to the 

 leaf-blade or leaf-stalk, but apparently he viewed this 

 plant only as medicinal, and it seems impossible to 

 determine the approximate date when rhubarb was 

 first used for culinarv purposes as we use it to-day. 

 The practice of so using it was known to Philip 

 Miller in 17.1^2, for in the sixth edition of his "Gar- 

 deners' Dictionary" he wrote: — "This sort [Rheum 

 Rhaponticum] is frequently cultivated in the gardens, 

 and is call'd English Rhubarb. The roots of this 

 enter as an ingredient into several compound medi- 

 cines; and of late years, the footstalks of the leaves 

 have been used for making of tarts in the spring of 



