bio.wikisort.org - Plant

Rheum palmatum is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae. It is commonly called Chinese rhubarb,[1][2] ornamental rhubarb,[3] Turkey rhubarb[2] or East Indian rhubarb.[2]

Rheum palmatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Polygonaceae
Genus:	Rheum
Species:	R. palmatum
Binomial name
Rheum palmatum L.

Rheum palmatum is a herbaceous perennial related to the edible rhubarb. It is primarily used in traditional medicine, and as an ornamental subject in the garden.

Taxonomy

Agnia Losina-Losinskaja proposed classifying it in the section Palmata in the Flora SSSR in 1936.[4] In the 1998 Flora Republicae popularis Sinicae A. R. Li maintains this classification for this species.[5]

Description

Its lobed leaves are large, jagged and hand-shaped, growing in width to two feet. Chinese rhubarb has thick, deep roots.[6]

Similar species

The species Rheum tanguticum is closely related to R. palmatum.[7]

R. palmatum can be distinguished from R. × hybridum, the garden rhubarb we eat, by size; while garden rhubarb only grows to a few feet in height, Chinese rhubarb can grow to six feet.[6]

Karyotypy

R. palmatum has a chromosome count of 2n=22.[5]

Distribution

It is native in the regions of western China, northern Tibet, and the Mongolian Plateau.[6]

Folk medicine

Rheum tanguticum, R. rhabarbarum and R. officinale and a few others, are all harvested for their roots, which are used as a herbal medicine.[7] This became one of the most prominent items traded along the Silk Road.[6] Imported roots of various rhubarb species were widely used in Europe for hundreds of years before the identity of the plant was eventually discovered.[6] Some of the common names associated with Rheum palmatum—"Russian rhubarb", "Turkey rhubarb", and "Indian rhubarb"—are directly affiliated with the trade routes for rhubarb from China.[6]

The root is known for its purported purging effects and suppressing fever.[6] In ancient China, rhubarb root was taken to try to cure stomach ailments and as a "cathartic" (an agent used to relieve constipation), and used as a poultice for "fevers and edema" (swelling caused by fluid retention in the body tissues).[6] It was given its Latin name by Carolus Linnaeus in the year 1759 and first grown in Britain around 1762.[6]

The first International Symposium on Rhubarb was held in China in 1990. Its objective was to verify the scientific data and treatment of Chinese Rhubarb used by Chinese pharmacopoeias.[6]

Health risks

Pregnant women should avoid all intake of the plant since it may cause uterine stimulation.[6] If taken for an extended amount of time, adverse effects include: "hypertrophy of the liver, thyroid, and stomach, as well as nausea, griping, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea."[6]

Though the root of the Chinese rhubarb is a key facet of herbal medicine, its leaves can actually be poisonous if consumed in large amounts due to the oxalic acid content.[6] Patients with "arthritis, kidney problems, inflammatory bowel disease, or intestinal obstruction" should refrain from consumption.[6]

Cultivation

Ornamental use

With its large palmate leaves and tall panicles of pink flowers, Rheum palmatum is a bold statement plant for the temperate garden, that grows up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) tall and broad. It is hardy down to −20 °C (−4 °F).[8] It is propagated by seed in the spring, or by root division in spring or autumn.[7] It grows best in full sunlight in well-drained soil.[7]

The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:-[9]

• ’Ace of Hearts’[10] - compact cultivar to 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
• ’Bowles’s Crimson’[11]
• ’Hadspen Crimson’[12]

Farming as medicinal herb

Since it is the roots and rhizome which serve as this plant's source of medicinal usage, special care is taken in their preparation.[6] When 6–10 years old, the rhizomes of these plants are removed from the ground in the autumn when both its stems and leaves changed to yellow wild.[7] Furthermore, the removal of the lateral rootlets and the crown are removed, leaving only the root.[7] Any debris around the root is cleaned off, the coarse exterior bark removed, and the root cut and divided into cube-like pieces to increase its surface area, thereby decreasing the time needed for drying.[6]

References

На других языках

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- [en] Rheum palmatum

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[ru] Ревень пальчатый

Реве́нь[2] па́льчатый (лат. Rhéum palmátum) — многолетнее травянистое растение из рода Ревень. Это влаголюбивое растение. Родина ревеня пальчатого — горные леса центрального Китая. В природных условиях встречается в северных провинциях Китая. В СССР культивировался в Московской и Воронежской областях, на Украине и в Белоруссии[3]. Успешно выращивается в Западной Сибири на плантациях Мошковского совхоза лекарственных трав (Новосибирская область).

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