Flora Medica

POLYGONACE^E.Leaves thick, leathery, cordate, blunt, red and netted beneath, andcovered with stellate down on each side ;petioles and peduncles smooth.Racemes arising from the very root, spicate. Pedicels numerous, clustered,as long as the ripe fruit. Sepals oblong, obtuse, the alternateones narrower and petaloid. Fruit rounded at the base and apex.Nothing is said of the quality of the roots, except that they are lightercoloured and more compact than those of R. Emodi. It appears thatthe rhubarb of Tartary grows at the height of 16,000 feet above the sea ;and Dr. Royle says that rhubarb sent by the late Mr. Moorcroft fromnear Ludak, lat. 34 N., long. 77^ E., was, for compactness of texture,colour and properties, as fine as any he has ever seen it is not ;improbablethat itmay have been furnished by this species.735. R. Moorcroftianum Royk illustr. p. 318. Wall. Jierb.ind. n. 1727. (" Small stalked rhubarb.")This plant has not been described. Professor Don has obliged mewith the following notes upon the differences between it and R. spiciforme: R. Moorcroftianum has the petioles more deeply furrowed ;"the stipules as long as the petioles, and much more membranous. Theimperfect rudiments of leaves (scales) at the base are even longer thanthe stipules, and are extremely thin and much torn, especially towardstheir summits. The fruits are larger, and angles broader and more winged.R. spiciforme has the lamina of its leaf of a thicker and firmer texture ;the stipules twice or thrice shorter than the petioles. The imperfectrudiments of leaves (scales) on the collum are short, entire, and lessmembranous, and imbricated. These scales in the former (Moorcroftianum)are often longer than the petioles. The leaves and stems of bothspecies are clothed with short scabrous pubescence, and the sepalsagree in size and form. Root of this is said to be more purgative thanthe last.736. R. leucorhizum Pall. n. act.petrop. x. 381. 1792. Willd.sp.pl. ii. 491. Ledebour ic. pi ross. t. 491. altaic. ii. 92y?.R. nanum Sievers in Pall. n. nord. beitr. vii. 264. R. tataricumLinn. Stippl. 229.? Stony places on the mountains of Dolenkara,Tschingistau and Arkalyki in the Soongorian Kirghesedesert ;also near the rivers Dschargurban and Kurtschum.A small plantfor this genus. Root white, branched, about 3 inchesin diameter next to the stem. Radical leaves about 3, short-stalked,coriaceous, 46 inches long, 5-9 inches broad, transversely elliptical,scarcely hollowed out at the base ; with 3, thick, branched nerves projectingvery much beneath ;smooth on both sides, toothletted at theedge, with here and there a few scattered roughish warts ; no caulineleaves, or scarcely ever one ; petioles about an inch long, compressed,solid, with a narrow channel on the upper side. Flowering stem about2 inches high, when in flower, afterwards becoming 10-12 inches high,about as thick as the finger, simple as high as the middle, then dividedinto several rigid divaricating branches. Flowers much fewer than inother species; the alternate segments of the calyx 3 or 4 times smallerthan the others. Fruit very large, 6 lines broad and 4 lines long, or evenlonger, deep red. Ledebour. Ledebour says nothing of the roots." When Pallas was at Kiachta, the Bucharian merchants who suppliedthe crown with rhubarb, brought some pieces of rhubarb, which had a356