C u l t iv a t e d
i n Sc o t l a n d .
Gerard* gives a figure o f the well known rhubarb o f our
gardens, with roundiih crifped leaves* This he names, very
properly, Rha verum antiquorum. Parkinfon gives another + in
his Paradifus terre/iris, which he procured from Dodtor Mathew
Lifter, phyfician to Charles I. This is acknowledged, from both
their accounts, to be weaker than the other kind which came
from China; it is frequent in our gardens. I do not remember
that the roots were ever applied to medicinal ufes, but o f the
tender fhoots of the leaves, are made excellent tarts, in the early
fummer, not inferior in tafte to the codling.
T h e plants which produce the true rhubarb have been but
lately difcovered ; the feeds o f the Rheum Palmatum were fent
from RuJJia by the late Dodlor Mounfey, to Dodlor Hope of Edinburgh,
in 1763. He fowed them in the botanical garden ; they
fucceeded greatly ; and he, with his ufual liberality, communicated
them to the curious. He drew up an account o f the
plant, and inferted it, attended with moil accurate plates, in vol.
lv. p. 290, of our Phil. Tranfadtions. Dodlor Woodville gives
alfo a good figure o f the plant at p. 227 of his medicinal botany;
as to that referred to by Linnaus (Le Brun's, travels, i. p. 188,
189) it feems o f fome other fpecies o f Rheum f .
T h a t moil excellent charadter the Duke of Athol, propagated
it with great fuccefs, not only in his garden, but on the highland
mountains that furround his feat at Athol. His benevolent de-
fign o f rendering common and cheap this ufeful medicine,
is bleit with the utmoft fuccefs. The roots which he cultivated
in the light foils, fimilarto thofe o f the Tartarian deferts,
* P- 393- t P. 484.485-
X Th e Rheum Rhaponticum, Cultivated in our Englijh gardens. E.
9 the
the native place, encreafe to a vail fize ; fome, when freih, have
been found to weigh fifty pounds, and to be equal in fmell, tafte,
and effedt to thofe we import at an enormous expence to our
country. On being dried, they ilirink to one quarter o f their
original weight. There is reaibn to fuppofe that the Scotch
rhubarb may be fupefior in virtue to the foreign, the laft being
gathered in all feafons, as the Mongall hunters chance to pafs by.
They draw up the roots indifcriminately, pierce them at one end,
fling them on their belts, and leave them to dry on their tents
without further care. In all probability the time is not remote
in which the Britijh rhubarb will fuperfede the neceflity o f the
ufe o f the foreign.
B u t there are other kinds which are faid to be equally efficacious
with the Rheum Palmatum, fuch as the Rheum Rhabar-
barum o f Linnaus, the Undulatum o f the Hortus Kewenjis,
with long waved leaves ; the Rheum CompaBum, a third fpecies,
boafts o f the fame virtues; Miller had the feeds fent to him
as thofe of the true kind. The Rheum Rhaponticum is befides
met with in Tartary about lake Baikal, as well as moil o f the
others. This is the fpecies which gave the name o f Rhubarb or
rather Rhabarb to this drug, the plant being firft obferved near
to the banks of the ancient Rha, or river Volga; the fame pre-
fcribed by Paulus Mginatus as one of the ingredients for a purge,
under the name o f Rheum Ponticum; perhaps the trivial might
be derived from its being brought from fome part o f Pontus, to
which it was carried from its place o f growth. Pliny * mentions
a plant with a medicinal root called Rhacoma; he fays it came
* Lib. xxvii. c. 12.
from