Rhubarbs
Family: N.O Polygonaceeæ
Rhubarb is the root of different species of Rheum, growing in the mountains of the Western and North-western provinces of China and in the adjoining Thibetan terrtory.
Rhubarb occurs in commerce under various names: Russian, Turkey, East Indian and Chinese; but the geographical source of all species is the same, the commercial names of the drug indicating only the route by which it formerly reached the European market. Previous to 1842, Canton being the only port of the Chinese Empire holding direct communication with Europe, Rhubarb mostly came by overland routes: the Russian Rhubarb used to be brought by the Chinese to the Russian frontier town of Kiachta; the Turkey Rhubarb received its name because it came to us by way of Asiatic Turkey, through the Levant; East Indian came by way of Singapore and other East Indian ports, and Chinese Rhubarb was shipped from Canton. At the present day practically all is conveyed to Europe via Shanghai.
According to Lindley's Treasury of Botany, the technical name of the genus is said to be derived from Rha, the ancient name of the Volga, on whose banks the plants grow; other authorities derive the name from the Greek rheo ('to flow'), in allusion to the purgative properties of the root.
