Chap. 595. 'Englijh Herbs. 
939 
fince it is fo apparently an Indian Drug 1 To this 
1 Anfwer. The reafon why I have plac’d it in the 
Clajfis of Engliff) Herbs, is, becaufe it has already 
grown in England , where it has been known to 
profper and ftourifh; And therefore I placed 
it here* to encourage our Country Men to conti- 
nue the propagation thereof : and if poflible it 
fhould not arrive to the height of its perfe&ions in 
our Clime, and therefore may be thought not to be 
altogether fo ftrong and effectual, , yet it has been 
found by Experience to anfwer all the lame ends, 
being ufed only in fomewhat a greater quantity : 
befides it may be Planted and propagated in all or 
moltofour Plantations in the Wefi-Indies, where, the 
Climates being more agreeable to its Native place, 
it may in fome (hort time be brought forth in per- 
fe&ion, and fo be of a publick Service to our 
Nation. Our Parkinfon was the Man in whofe 
Garden this Rheubarb once grew, and therefore 
what he has fiid of it, we will give you in his 
own Words. I have (fays he) a kind of round 
Leav'd Dock growing in my Garden, which was 
fent me from beyond Sea , by a worthy Gentleman , 
Dr. L'fter, one of the Kings Phyflcians, with the 
Title Rhaponticum verum, which fit ft grew with me, 
before it was ever fee n or known elf ember e in Eng- 
land, which by proof I have found to be fo like to 
the True Rheubarb, or Rhaponticum, both for 
form and color , that I dare fay it is the very True 
Rheubarb, our Climate making it only lefs firong 
in Working, ' lefs heavy , and lefs bitter in Taftc. 
for this has great and thick Roots , and as diver fly 
dif colored with Fie fh colored Veins, as the True In- 
dian Rheubarb, which I have to fbew to any who are 
defirous to fee and know it : and afo other f mailer 
branches of Roots fpreading from the main great 
Root, which f mailer Branches may well be compared 
to the Rhaponticum which Merchants bring its, 
and which appear to be longer and tenderer , than 
(the Great Tuberous) Rheubarb, but of the fame 
color. This our Englilh Rheubarb being t rim'd, by 
taking away its Rind and Skin under it, as you do 
the China or Indian, appears with as lively and as 
frefh a color, with flefh colored Veins running thro' 
it, that the choifefi China Rheubarb cannot excel 
it : and if it is dryed carefully as it ought , by the 
gentle heat of a fire, or in a warm Oven ( becaufe 
we want the heat of the Sun to do it) and each 
piece kept one from another, it will hold its color 
dlmoft as well when dried, as when it is frefh, and 
give a yellow TinUure to the Spittle when chewed, 
the ? not fo Very yellow, nor with fo much bitter- 
nefs and aftriaion , as the True Indian Root does. 
1 have divers Tears taken up thefe Roots, and dryed 
them carefully , and they have been fhewed to the Befi 
and mo ft Skilful, who have approved of them, and 
divers of our Phyficians have oftentimes ufed them, 
with many other Perfons , to very good purpofe. Thus 
Parkinfon. 
Ml. The fecond, or True Turkey Rheubarb , or 
Rheubarb of Pontus. The form of the Root is fome - 
what great, round, and long withal, for the mo ft part , 
(yet there are fmaller and Jhorter pieces, as well 
as greater which come together : ) whofe color on 
the out fide is not all alike, no more than the Sub- 
fiance within : for Bill fome is better colored, and 
founder than others. The bed is firm, and fome- 
what heavy, not fpongy and light , and fomewhat 
brown, but frefh on the out fide, without many 
blackifh fpots ( which are fufpicious places , where, 
often times being broken, it found rotten, or cor - 
ruptei and naught 1 fay many, becaufe the befi 
pieces have fometimes this fault in them,) but they 
do not run far inwards , yet if they fhould, the refi 
of the piece might be excellent good, and not to be 
ref ufed, the bad being to be cut away, as not fit to 
be ufed the found parts being rep /eat with Elefh 
colored Veins running through it, bittenjh in Tafie, 
and a little Aroma tick in its Smell (if it be not 
old) and caufing the Spittle to be yellow, being a 
little chewed in the Mouth. Now thefe are the 
very Properties which belong to the True Chmefe 
Rhubarb Vontick • or, 
Rhaponticum. 
or Indian Rheubarb, as may appear by the former 
Defcription fo that we need not feek for a nev? 
Plant to take this Pontick Rheubarb from, nor de- 
feribe any other Species, than whar we have done 
before at Sell. 4 . above, for any Perfon of common 
Reafon and Ingenuity may eafily fee, that as the 
former (before deferibed in Sell. 4 .) is the True 
Indian or China fort foalfo they may as eafily per- 
ceive that this Pontick Rheubarb (the true fort, not 
the falfe Kind, which is Counterfeited with the 
Great Centory Roots ) is bur only the greater Rami- 
fications of the true China or Indian , cut off from 
the fame, and fo Dryed and Sold alone, as another 
Species of Rheubarb. Thefe Reafons thus offered 
ought to excite our People, to make the 
Trial, by Planting ir in other hotter Climates 
as in our Plantations in the Weft-Indies , where 
1 doubt not, but h. would turn to a very good 
Account. 
VII. The third, or Our Ballard Rheubarb. Its. 
Root grows greater than that of Patience Rheubarb, 
with many Branches , or great Strings adjoining - 
yellow on the out fide, and fomewhat of a pale y el* 
low within , with fome difcolored Veins therein like 
tothofe of the True Indian Rheubarb, firft deferi- 
bed but much lefs than it, efpccial/y when it is dry, 
which then ha* quite loft ns frefh color , which the 
faid True Indian conftantly holds in its perfection „ 
from this Root fpring up divers large, round, thin * 
yellowifh green Leaves, a little waved about the 
edges, each one Banding on a rcafonable thick and 
long brownijh foot Stalk , from among which rifes 
up a pretty big Stalk about two beet high, with fome 
fitch Leaves thereon as grow below, but fmaller- 
at the top whereof ft and in a long Spike, many Jmall 
brownijh blowers, which turn into hard triangular 
