218    ON  THE  KINDS  OF  RHUBARB  IN  RUSSIAN  COMMERCE. 
rhapontic  root,  nor  the  so-called  red  Canton  rhubarb,  which  does 
not  appear  ever  to  become  an  important  commercial  variety. 
4.  Bucharian  Rhubarb.—  Besides  the  facts  related  above 
nothing  can  be  stated  regarding  the  manner  in  which  it  enters 
commerce,  since  it  is  mostly  offered  in  small  quantities  and  by 
pedlers  ;  but  all  its  qualities  characterize  it  pretty  well.  From 
the  desire  to  impart  to  it  a  resemblance  to  the  Moscovitic  rhu- 
barb, the  perforations  for  suspending  the  root  while  drying  are 
met  with,  and  also  frequently  imitations  of  the  bore-holes,  the 
former  being  in  many  instances  made  after  drying.  We  have 
mundified  and  so-called  half  mundified  kinds,  the  former  frequently 
liberated  from  the  cambium  very  carefully,  and  at  the  same  time 
most  economically,  often  by  means  of  a  file;  the  latter  after  dry- 
ing usually  not  further  treated  with  the  knife  and  therefore  with 
numerous  longitudinal  wrinkles  on  the  surface.  In  most  cases  the 
dimensions  of  the  roots  are  greater  than  in  the  preceding  kinds, 
and  they  are  cleft  longitudinally  into  two  halves ;  the  exposed 
cut  having  contracted,  on  drying,  to  a  somewhat  convex  (con- 
cave ?)  shape,  this  might  be  called  the  conchoidal  form  of  rhubarb. 
Mean  length  3J  inches,  width  2J-,  thickness  1 J  inches ;  mean 
weight  of  a  whole  root  8  oz.  The  surface  is  usually  intentionally 
sprinkled  with  powdered  rhubarb,  sometimes  also  with  other  yellow 
powders,  like  turmeric  ;  sometimes  it  may  be  observed  that  the 
specimens  have  been  previously  wetted  to  make  the  powder  ad- 
here better. 
In  compactness  this  rhubarb  resembles  the  South-Chinese  ;  its 
texture  is  the  most  fibrous  and  woody  of  all  varieties.  The  shape 
of  the  cells  of  the  medullary  rays  and  of  the  clusters  of  oxalate 
of  lime  resembles  that  of  the  North  and  South  Chinese  rhubarbs  ; 
the  starch  granules  show  no  important  difference  from  those  of 
the  Moscovitic  rhubarb,  with  which  it  also  agrees  in  the  indica- 
tion of  several  radiating  circles  within  the  pulverulent  ring, 
which,  however,  is  more  marked.  These  radiating  systems  are 
wanting  outside  of  the  ring  like  in  the  Chinese,  and  the  medul- 
lary rays  radiate  very  accurately,  becoming  gradually  narrower 
towards  the  circumference,  and  their  color  is  in  most  cases 
darker  than  in  the  South  Chinese  Rhubarb. — Pharmaceut.  Zeit- 
achr.fur  Bussland,  1866,  JSfovb.  473—481.  J.  M.  M. 
