120 
RHEUM PALMATUM. 
in all the European Pharmacopoeias as a safe and useful reined j; 
but so ignorant are we of it, even at this day, that the particular 
species of Rheum which constitutes the rhubarb of commerce, con- 
tinues a matter of dispute and uncertainty. Two causes may be 
assigned for our want of information on this head ; the one is, that 
the countries from whence the roots are brought to us, and where 
the plant is indigenous, are not very accessible to European travel- 
lers, and another reason is, the probability that the rhubarb of 
commerce is the produce of different species of Rheum. In the 
London and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias we have the Rheum Palma- 
tum, (the plant here figured) while the Dublin College considers the 
Rheum Undulatum as the true rhubarb. We may consider the 
palmated rhubarb, and perhaps most of the other species, as natives 
of Asiatic Russia, and the more southern parts of European Russia, 
growing in the meridian of from 45o to 35° north latitude, but at a 
considerable elevation, which sufficiently accounts for its bearing the 
winter of more northern climates ; hence it is found in Siberia, but 
whether indigenous to the soil or not, appears doubtful. Professor 
Pallas, who resided for several years in the Crimea, thinks that the 
rhubarb of commerce is obtained indiscriminately from the Rheum 
Undulatum, Palmatum and Compactum, but more especially from 
the first : he further states, that in Bukharia the palmated rhubarb 
is unknown, and that the Bukharians consider the Compactum as the 
true species. M. Sievers, an apothecary, was sent by the Empress 
Catharine II. into Tartary, on purpose to obtain the true rhubarb 
plant ; but after travelling for several years in the countries conti- 
guous to that from whence the rhubarb is brought, he was of opinion 
that the botanical characters of the plant were still unknown, 
excepting that it was said not to grow to a great size, and to have 
round leaves, toothed at the edges, with almost spinous points. It 
appears to us, however, that M. Sievers might have been spared 
these many years of travel, unless her Imperial Majesty had pre- 
viously decided which species of rhubarb she would be pleased to 
consider the true, a point, as we have observed, by no means decided 
even at this day ; and as without a knowledge of the plants that 
furnish the roots with which we are supplied, and submitting the 
latter to the test of examination, we do not see how the matter can 
be cleared up, if, as we suppose, by true rhubarb be meant the 
best. 
The roots of the palmated riuibarb, when they have attained their 
full growth, are large, thick, and branched, externally brown, within 
of a deep yellow colour; the stem grows erect to the height of six 
