82 THE RHUBARB PLANT. 



to the Mongols as the S/iara-moto,^ and to the 

 Tangutans as Djtimtsa. As it has not yet been 

 studied by European naturahsts in its native coun- 

 try, I will describe it at some length. ^ 



It has three or four large dark green leaves ^ near 

 the root, from the centre of which springs the flower- 

 stalk to a height of seven to ten feet, with a thick- 

 ness of one-and-a-half inch near the ground."^ Old 

 plants have ten or more leaves, but the flower-stalks 

 are in such case more numerous, the proportion of 

 leaves being invariably three or four to each. The 

 section of leaf-stalk is oval, about the thickness of a 

 finger ; the length of the leaf being twenty-six inches, 

 colour underneath green, above reddish, covered 

 with fine reddish hairs one-fifth of an inch long. 

 The flower-stalk throws out a few small leaves at its 

 joints, and the small white flowers are set on a 

 second stalk branching from the main stem two- 

 thirds of its heiofht from the orround. 



о о 



The root is cylindrical with a number of slender 

 offsets, ^ the length and number of which depend on 

 the age of the plant. When full grown the root is 



^ I.e. yellow tree. 



'^ Compare this and the following paragraphs with Marco Polo, 

 speaking of the same region : ' Over all the mountains of this province 

 rhubarb is found in great abundance, and thither merchants come to 

 buy it, and carry it thence all over the world. Travellers, however, 

 dare not visit these mountains with any cattle but those of the country, 

 for a certain plant {crba) grows there, which is so poisonous that cattle 

 which eat it lose their hoofs ' (2d. ed., i. 219). — Y. 



3 The largest leaf we measured was two feet long by three broad. 



•• These are the dimensions of a full-grown plant. 



* Old roots have as many as twenty-five offsets, the largest being 

 \\ in. in diameter, with a length of 21 inches. 



