R H A 



R H E 



is shrubby and branched ; the branches and 

 I>rancli!et3 filit'omi and smooth ; the prickles 

 scattered, solitary or in pairs, comnionlv erect ; 

 the leaves ahernate, on very short petioles, 

 scarcely cordate, ovate and ovate-oblong, blunt 

 with a very fine point, sometimes (but seldom) 

 rctuse, serrate, smooth, pale underneath, three- 

 nerved, an inch long; tjie flowers axillarv, two, 

 three, or more together, very short and unequally 

 pedunclcd; styles two, very short, with capitate 

 stigmas. It is a native of the South of Europe, 

 China, and Japan. 



The fruit is sold in tlie market at Canton 

 during the autumn. In Italy and Spain it is 

 served up at the table in desserts during the win- 

 ter season, as a dry sweetmeat. 



The common or cultivated Jujube, according 

 to Miller, has a woodv stalk, dividing into 

 many crooked irregular branches, armed with 

 strong straight thorns, set by pairs at each joint : 

 the leaves are two inches long and one broad, 

 slightly serrate, on short footstalks : the flowers 

 are produced on the side of the branches, two or 

 three from the same place, sessile, small and 

 yellow ; the fruit oval, the size of a middling 

 plum, sweetish and clammy, including a hard 

 oblong stone, pointed at both ends. 



The wild Jujube has slender woody stalks, 

 •which send out many weak branches, covered 

 with a grayish bark, and armed with spines in 

 pairs, one longer and straight, the other short 

 ahd recurved : the leaves small, oval, veined, 

 half an inch in length and breadth, and sessile. 

 It is found about Tunis in Africa. 



The ninth species sends up several shrubby 

 stalks, dividing into slender branches, armed 

 with straight spines, (prickles) set by pairs at 

 each joint : the leaves are small, ovate, veined, 

 alternate, upon very short footstalks : the 

 flowers, are small, yellow, axillary : the fruit 

 round, about the size of the sloe. It is a native 

 of Ethiopia. 



Culture. — ^The first, third, and fourth sorts 

 may be increased by seeds, layers, and some- 

 times by cuttings : the seeds should be sown 

 in autumn as soon as ripe, on a bed of light earth, 

 and slightly raked in : the plants mostly ap- 

 pear in the following spring, and when they 

 have had a year or two's growth they should be 

 planted out in nursery-rows, te have two or 

 three years more growth, when they may bci 

 finally set out. 



The layers should be made from the young 

 shoots and be laid down in the autumn, in the 

 usual way, giving a little twist or nick at the 

 time, in the bark at a joint. They mostly be- 

 come well rooted in twelvemonths. 



Cuttings of the first and third sorts may be 

 Vol. II. 



made from the young twigs, and l>e jjlanlcd in 

 rows in the autumn, in a bed of good eartl^, 

 when most of them wilt succeed. 



'I'he evergreen or Alaternus kinds may be 

 raised from seeds and by layers. The i>laiu sorts 

 succeed in both methods, but the variegated 

 sorts only with certainty by layers. 



The seeds should be put into the ground in 

 t'.ie early autunm in the same manner as above, 

 and the layers laid down in the autumn as in the 

 other kinds. 



The other species may be raised by sowing the 

 stones of the fruit in pots in the spring, plunging 

 them in a moderate h(H-bed. When the plants 

 have attained some growth they should be re- 

 moved into separate pots and managed as other 

 tender plants. 



They also succeed by suckers from the roots 

 and layers as in the above sorts. 



The sixth and eighth sorts may be placed in 

 the green-house, and the others in the stove. 



These are all ornamental plants ; the hardy 

 sorts for the pleasure-ground, and the more ten- 

 der sorts for the green-house and stove, among 

 other potted plants. 



RHEUM, a genus containing plants-of the 

 herbaceous perennial luxuriant kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Eniieandria 

 Trigynia, and ranks in the natural order of lio- 

 lorAcece. 



The characters of which are : that there is no 

 calyx ; or, which otherwise appears as the co- 

 rolla, monopetalous, narrow at the base, and 

 impervious, divided above into six parts, alter- 

 nately smaller : the stamina have nine capillary 

 filaments inserted into the corolla, and termi- 

 nated by oblong didymous antherae: the pis- 

 tillum is a short triquetrous germen : the stvle* 

 three, scarcely visible, and three rcflexed plumose 

 stigmas : there is no pericarpium, but one large, 

 triquetrous, acute seed to each flower, having a 

 membraneous border. 



The species chiefly cultivated are: 1. R. Wi.a~ 

 pnnticiim, Rhapontic or Common Rhubarb : 2. 

 R.pnhnatinn, I'almated-leaved, or True Chinese 

 Rhubarb: 3. R. Compactvm, Compact Thick- 

 leaved Rhubarb: 4. R. undulatutn,\\'3.\-C(l-\iia.w(iA 

 Chinese Rhubarb : 5- R- r'l'f, Wasted-leaved 

 Persian Rhubarb : 6. R. Tutaricmn, Tartarian or 

 Heart-leaved Rhubarb. 



The first has a large, thick, fleshy, branching, 

 deeply-striking root, yellowish within, crowned 

 by very large, roundish-heart-shaped smooth 

 leaves, on thick, slightly-furrowed footstalks ; 

 and an luiusual upright strong stem, two or 

 three feet high, adorned with leaves singly, and 

 terminated by thick close spikes of white flowers. 

 It is a native of Thrace and Scythia. This sort 



2 X 



