have not however found much favour in an 

 ornamental point of view. 



One Sikkim species mentioned by Dr. 

 Hooker has such a singular and showy ap- 

 pearance that its introduction into this 

 country is greatly to be desired. Dr. Hooker 

 thus describes the plant :—' The individual 

 plants of R. nobile are upwards of a yard 



Rheum nobile. 



high, and form conical towers of the most 

 delicate straw-coloured shining semitran- 

 sparent concave imbricating bracts, the 

 upper of which have pink edges; the large 

 bright glossy shining green radical leaves, 

 with red petioles and nerves, forming a 

 broad base to the whole. On turning up 

 the bracts the beautiful membranous 

 fragile pink stipules are seen like red 

 tissue-paper, and within these again the 

 short-branched panicles of insignificant 

 green flowers. The root is very long, often 

 many feet, and winds among the rocks ; 

 it is as thick as the arm, and bright yellow 

 inside. After flowering, the stem lengthens, 

 the bracts separate one from another, be- 

 come coarse red brown, withered and 

 torn ; Anally, as the fruit ripens they fall 

 away, leaving a ragged-looking stem, 

 covered with panicles of deep-brown pendu- 

 lous fruits. In the winter these naked 

 black stems, projecting from the beetling 

 cliffs or towering above the snow, are in 

 dismal keeping with the surrounding deso- 

 lation of the season.' The natives, it is said, 

 eat the pleasantly acid stems and call them 

 Ghuka. [M.T.M.] 



R. Rliaponticum and its varieties form the 

 Common Rhubarb used for culinary pur- 

 poses. It is a hardy perennial found on the 

 borders of the Volga River, and has been 

 grown in this country since 1573. The plant 

 has large broad heart-shaped smooth deep- 

 green leaves, strongly veined beneath. The 

 footstalks are long, thick and fleshy, chan- 

 neled above, and rounded at the edges. R. 

 undidatumalso yields some of the forms of 



garden Rhubarb, especially those with red 

 leafstalks. 



In Queen Elizabeth's time Rhubarb- 

 leaves were used as a potherb, and consi- 

 dered superior to spinach or beet. The 

 use of the tender leafstalks is compara- 

 tively of modern date ; for although they 

 are now so common during the spring and 

 early part of summer, it was not until the 

 beginning of thepresent century that they 

 came to be employed for tarts, and were 

 found so valuable for various other culi- 

 nary preparations. They are excellent, 

 either stewed alone, or with rice ; and a 

 capital preserve has been made from them, 

 in the form of a jam which is equal in 

 flavour to that made from currants. When 

 too large and old for cooking they undergo 

 a process by which the juice is expressed 

 from them and made into a delicious wine 

 similar to thatfromgreen gooseberries,and 

 closely resembling champagne: indeed, it 

 may be suspected that much of the so- 

 called champagne commonly drunk is no 

 other than a preparation from the stalks of 

 Rhubarb. The juice is stated to contain 

 oxalic acid, as well as nitric andmalicacid 

 in abundance ; and it is these which give an 

 agreeable taste to the stalks when cooked, 

 but which render them ill-suited to persons 

 of weak digestion. 



In the Gardener's Chronicle for 1846 (p. 5) 

 Mr. A. Forsyth first directed attention to 

 another part of Rhubarb as being suited 

 for culinary purposes, and to which he gave 

 the name of Rhaflower. This is the large 

 globular pouch of unopened flowers, which 

 is described as being of a beautiful colour 

 when dressed in the same manner as Rhu- 

 barb, of a milder flavour, and forming alto- 

 gether a dish of great delicacy. [W. B. B.] 



RHEUMATISM-ROOT. Jeffersonia di- 

 phylla. 



RHEXIA. A small North American ge- 

 nus of Melastomacea', the species of which 

 are low perennial often bristly herbs, com- 

 monly called Deer-grass, or Meadow-beauty, 

 and have sessile three to five-nerved bristle- 

 edged leaves, and large showy cymose flow- 

 ers. It has an urn-shaped calyx-tube and 

 four persistent teeth shorter than the tube; 

 four obovate somewhat retuse petals ; 

 eight equal or nearly equal stamens, with 

 mostly narrow curved blunt one-pored an- 

 thers, somewhat thickened at the base and 

 prolonged beyond the insertion of the fila- 

 ment, above which they are nearly always 

 armed with a sharp spur or a tubercle ; and 

 a four-celled ovary, adherent at its base. 

 Its fruit is invested by the permanent calyx, 

 and contains numerous seeds of a coiled 

 pyramidal form, like a snail-shell. [A. S.] 



RHIGOZUM. A South African genus of 

 Bignoniacece, in which it is remarkable for 

 having five or rarely six to seven perfect 

 stamens to the flower, instead of four fer- 

 tile and one sterile, as is usually the case. 

 The two known species, R. trichotomum 

 and obovatum, are rigid bushes, with short 

 lateral branchlets terminating in spiny 

 points, and furnished with ternate leaves 



