213 RHEUM OFFICINALE 



It flowers in May and June, and the fruit is ripe at the end of 

 July. 



As a species this is very distinct from the rest of the genus, 

 E. palmatum being its nearest ally. From R. hybridum, Murr., it 

 is quite different. The form of the leaves is very characteristic, 

 and unlike any other species, these are very handsome, and when 

 young somewhat remind one of the castor- oil plant ; the petiole is 

 completely without any groove on the upper surface, and the 

 exterior border of the two lowest ribs is entirely bare for some 

 distance from the petiole. The figure of the fruit in the ' Bot. 

 Magazine ' is incorrect both in form and colour. 



In the above description of the stem Baillon' s full account has 

 been followed. He has had the opportunity of examining plants 

 of greater age than any yet grown here. The latter have not 

 developed any decidedly aerial stem, nothing more than a crown 

 of a few inches high. Mr. Usher, after three years' cultivation, has 

 not observed any tendency towards the formation of a further 

 stem, though the increase in bulk of the little offset he received in 

 1873, of about an inch in diameter, was very great, the central 

 portion attaining a weight of 13 pounds. We are indebted to 

 him for a specimen of the root prepared for the market, and we 

 agree with Prof. Fliickiger, of Strasburg, who has also examined a 

 similar specimen and himself grown the plant at Strasburg, that 

 it possesses the appearance of the true Ehubarb, especially in the 

 presence of the zone of numerous star-like spots formed by the 

 fibro-vascular bundles. Further cultivation will show whether 

 the stem becomes as much developed as is described by Baillon, or 

 whether it be anything more than a large root- stock which from 

 its vigorous growth is somewhat more elevated above the surface 

 of the ground than in other species. 



Baillon, in Rep. de Congres (Association Franchise) de Bordeaux, 

 1872, pp. 514549, abstracted in Journ. Bot., 1872, p. 379, & 

 reprinted in Adansonia, xi, p. 219; Fliickiger, in Neues 

 Repert. fiir Pharmacie, bd. xxv, heft 1, p. 1 (1876), abstracted 

 in Pharm. Journ., 1876, p. 861 ; Journ. Bot., 1875, p. 239. 



