RHUBARB IN CHINA. 395 
and suspended in the shade until they are perfectly dry and fit for the 
market. 
Quality. — The rhubarb (hwan-g) which grows in Shen-si, Kansuh, 
and in the west of Sz-chuen, is all of good quality. That which grows 
in Shan-si, Chil-li, and other places to the north of these, is smaller,and 
not equal in strength to that of Sz-chuen. In Sz-chuen, however, the 
quality appears to vary, that which grows in the west and is dried in 
the shade being better than that which is dried in the sun in the north 
of the same province ; while that which is dried by artificial heat is said 
to be slightly charred. Tau-hung-king, who makes the foregoing remark, 
adds that Sz-chuen rhubarb is not equal in quality to that of Lung-si in 
Shen-si ; that it is black in colour, and very bitter. This, however, is 
altogether denied by Kung. 3u-sung also says that Sz-chuen rhubarb is 
fine-grained, and next comes that of Shen-si. He adds, however, that 
the value of these two is the same. Sung-ki, who lived between a.d. 
1000 and 1270, says that in his time Lung-si (Shen-si) rhubarb was 
considered the best. 
Notwithstanding the want of precision and agreement in the above 
statements, I think that, taken in connection with extracts from ' The 
Rules of the Drug Trade in China ' and from ' The Chinese Commercial 
Guide' they will warrant the following conclusions : — 
1. Rhubarb grows in many parts of the Chinese Empire, but chiefly 
in Kan-suh south of Mongolia, about Ke-ko-nor, and on the Kwan dun 
mountains, which form the northern boundary of Thibet ; and also in 
the provinces of Shen-si, Shan-si, Ho-nan, and Sz-chuen. From the 
former districts the dried root reaches Europe at present by way of Mos- 
cow ; from the latter it is conveyed along the Yellow and Yang-tse 
rivers to the ports of Shanghai and Hankow. 
2. The descriptions of the plant are not sufficiently precise to show 
whether the roots of only one, or of more than one, species are collected 
for medicinal use. Any real differences in the descriptions are easily 
accounted for on the latter supposition. The contradictions, however, 
are more apparent than real. According to Kung the root is red, while 
Su-sung says that it is covered with a black skin, which is taken off. The 
black skin consists, as any one may see by examining the root of Rheum 
palmatum in the winter, of the black decayed bases of the sheathing 
petioles, which cover the rhizome, so that its red colour is not apparent 
until these are removed. The difference in the height of the plant and 
the colour of the leaves probably depends on age or locality. The most 
important feature in description is the statement of Su-sung, that the 
leaves of the Shen-si rhubarb plant resemble those of Ricinus communis, 
the only known species of Rheum whose leaves admit of this comparison 
being R. palmatum. Su-sung particularizes the leaves of the Shen-si 
rhubarb, as if this was different from the Sz-chuen plant. Possibly he 
was only acquainted with the Shen-si plant ; and therefore spoke cau- 
YOL. VI. T T 
