| Rheum officinale | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Polygonaceae |
| Genus: | Rheum |
| Species: | R. officinale |
| Binomial name | |
| Rheum officinale | |
Rheum officinale, theChinese rhubarb,[3][4] orIndian rhubarb[4] is arhubarb from the familyPolygonaceae native to westernChina andTibet.[5] InChinese it is calledyào yòng dà huáng (Chinese:药用大黄), literally meaningmedicinal rhubarb.[5]
Aperennial typically to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height.[4] but occasionally the flower stalkpeduncle is as much as 3 m (9.8 ft) in height. The huge round or kidney-shaped leaves (laminae) are up to 75 cm (30 in) diameter.[6]
R. officinale has achromosome count of 2n=44.[7]
This species is endemic to southeast China, where it occurs in the provinces ofGuizhou, southwesternHenan, westernHubei,Shaanxi,Sichuan,Yunnan and possiblyFujian.[5]
Leaf petiole said to be edible raw or cooked.[4]
InIndonesia, especially inJava where it is known asklembak inJavanese, and it is usually dried, and mixed with tobacco and frankincense to create arokok klembak menyan, a traditional Javanese frankincense cigarette.
The roots ofRheum officinale are used intraditional Chinese medicine.[5][4] They are considered as a kind of "cold" herbs, used as alaxative in patients withconstipation, sometimes accompanied byfever and evendelirium. It is thought that rhubarbs can improve poor circulation, especially being helpful to remove bodily aggregates which result from poor circulation.
In Chinese traditional medicine,R. officinale, in combination with a large variety of other herbs and modern medicine, has been used for the treatment ofhepatitis B, although the results were found to be inconclusive.[8]
Hardy toUSDA Zone 7.[4]
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