310  Rhubarb  and  Rheum  Officinale.  }AmjJu?;,r-I8P7^rm* 
nearly  allied  species  which  grow  in  the  Himalayas  and  Thibet,  are  to  be 
met  within  the  Indian  bazaars,  and  once  a  couple  of  chests  of  such 
Himalayan  rhubarb  strayed  to  England.  These,  however,  as  well  as 
authentic  pieces  of  the  root  which  were  supplied  by  Wallich  himself^ 
were  deficient  in  the  characters  of  true  rhubarb.1  Practically,  therefore,, 
we  have  no  varieties  of  rhubarb  from  the  Himalayas.  The  brothers 
Schlagintweit,  in  their  journey  through  the  western  part  of  the  Hima- 
layas, met  with  Rheum  Emodi,  R.  Moor  cr  oft1  anum,  Wall.,  and  R.  aus- 
trale,  Don.,  but  not  with  the  collection  or  cultivation  of  true  rhubarb.2 
Similar  with  respect  to  the  rhubarb  of  present  commerce,  opinions 
are  not  wanting  that  it  should  be  considered  different  from  the  so-called 
Russian  rhubarb.  Thus,  Berg  is  of  opinion  that  this  drug,  at  present 
disappeared  from  commerce,  should  be  attributed  to  another  plant  which 
has  sometimes  been  indicated  as  R.  palmatum.  To  the  author's  knowl- 
edge, however,  no  Rheum  palmatum  cultivated  in  Europe  has  yielded 
roots  resembling  the  true  drug.  But,  in  1872,  what  appears  to  be  a 
more  nearly  allied  plant  was  collected  by  Przewalski  in  the  highlands 
of  Tangut,  near  the  salt  lake  of  Kokonor,  in  the  province  of  Kansu 
(lat.  370  N.,  long.  xoo°  E.),  and  described  by  Maximowicz  as  Rheum 
palmatum,  var.  Tanguticum.  According  to  the  Russian  botanist,  this 
plant,  which  is  now  cultivated  at  Erfurt,  in  Germany,  is  the  plant  from 
which  the  once  preferred  Russian  rhubarb  was  derived.  Professor 
Fliickiger,  however,  thinks  that  a  decisive  opinion  upon  the  relation  of 
this  Rheum  Tanguticum  to  R.  palmatum,  at  present  cultivated  in  Eu- 
ropean gardens,  on  the  one  hand,  and  R.  officinale  on  the  other,  is  not 
at  present  possible;  Tangut  and  Thibet  lie  so  far  asunder,  that  some 
experience  in  the  propagation  of  these  two  plants  is  desirable. 
This  uncertainty  imparts  interest  to  the  notices  of  the  origin  and 
commercial  routes  of  the  rhubarb  coming  into  European  trade  that  have 
accumulated  in  the  course  of  time.  It  appears  probable  that  the  Chi- 
nese, in  the  thousandth  year  of  their  annals,  which  is  earlier  than  our 
chronology,  employed  rhubarb,  and  that  very  early  caravans  went  from 
Central  China  to  Western  Asia,  to  Bokhara,  for  instance,  so  that  it  is 
possible  that  rhubarb  spread  westward  in  very  early  times.  Acquaint- 
ance with  it  in  India  in  ancient  times  cannot  be  determined,  inasmuch 
as  the  Sanscrit  language  has  no  word  to  describe  it.    With  the  ques- 
1  Pereira  "  Elements  Mat.  Med.,  II,"  part  i  (1852),  p.  492. 
2"Annales  des  Sciences  Naturelles  (Botanique),"  vol.  vi,  p.  334. 
