398 THE BAEL FRUIT AND ITS PROPERTIES. 
tiously. There appears, however, to he another species of rhuharb, 
which Kung calls the Yang-ti plant. This is said to be often mistaken 
for the ordinary rhubarb plant, on account of its resemblance to it ; 
but Li-shi-chen affirms that it is a distinct species. It is, probably, also 
a species of Rheum, whose root, though known in the market as Yang- 
ti rhubarb, is smaller and of inferior quality, and therefore not called 
rhubarb by first-class dealers. Yang-ti rhubarb means sheep's-feet 
rhubarb, and is so called from a fancied resemblance to the feet of the 
sheep, as the Sz-chuen rhubarb is called, doubtless also from its shape 
and size, hoof or horse-hoof rhubarb. The Tu-ta-kwang or local — i. e., 
inferior rhubarb mentioned by Su-sung, which flowers two months 
earlier than the palmate-leaved rhubarb of Shen-si, may be a third 
species. There are a few characters which do not correspond with 
R. palmatum, or indeed with any of our cultivated species. The re- 
semblance of the root to a basio is far from obvious, and the so-called 
seed or nut is usually a rusty -brown rather than black. The objection 
to R. palmatum being the source, or a source, of the officinal rhubarb 
has, I believe, been chiefly founded on the statement of Pallas that this 
species appeared to be quite unknown to the Bucharians, and that their 
description corresponded most nearly with R. compactum, the seeds of 
which were sent to Miller from St. Petersburgh as the true Tartarian 
rhubarb. But still less has hitherto been known of the rhubarb which 
grows in China itself ; and I think 1 have now shown equally good 
reason for believing that the best kind of Chinese rhubarb — namely the 
produce of Shen-si, and probably also of Sz-chuen — is R. palmatum, which, 
notwithstanding all that has been said against it, has always been con- 
sidered to approach'most nearly to Asiatic rhubarb. Kung, who does 
not mention any locality, but compares the rhubarb to the Yang-ti 
plant, says that the stalk is crisp and sour, and may be chewed raw. 
Rheum palmatum is not cultivated in England for culinary use ; but Mr. 
Robinson, of the Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, informs me that he 
has seen it so used in Ireland. — < Pharmaceutical Journal.' 
THE BAEL FRUIT AND ITS PROPERTIES. 
In the course of the last few years another valuable medical restorative 
has been made known to European and Australian physicians. It is 
the bael fruit {JEgle marmelos, Corr.) known in India as the Bengal 
quince, but in Ceylon as a kind of orange. Although incidental notices 
of this tree and its fruit are scattered through the pages of the Technolo- 
gist, it may be useful to bring together the statements relating to it. 
It is a large tree, a native of all parts of the East Indies ; flowers during 
the hot season and the fruit ripens after the rains. 
The fruit is somewhat like an orange. The cells contain besides the 
