Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Polygonaceae > Rheum > Rheum palmatum

Rheum palmatum (Chinese rhubarb)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Rheum palmatum, commonly called Chinese rhubarb, ornamental rhubarb, Turkish rhubarb, Turkey rhubarb, Indian rhubarb, Russian rhubarb or rhubarb root (and within Chinese herbal medicine da-huang).
View Wikipedia Record: Rheum palmatum

Attributes

Edible [1]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [1]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [1]  The leaves are poisonous; This report probably refers to high levels of oxalic acid found in the leaves. Perfectly safe in moderate quantities, oxalic acid can lock up certain minerals (especially calcium) in the body, leading to nutritional deficiency. Cooking the plant will reduce its content of oxalic acid. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition;
Lifespan [1]  Perennial
Pollinators [1]  Wind
Usage [1]  An insect spray is made from the leaves; This spray is also said to help prevent clubroot of brassicas; The cultivar 'Atrosanguineum' can be used as a ground cover plant in a sunny position; Other forms can also be used, they are best planted about 1.8 metres apart each way;
Height [1]  9.84 feet (3 m)
Width [1]  6.56 feet (2 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Rheum palmatum

Predators

Ametastegia glabrata (dock sawfly)[2]
Chaetocnema concinna[2]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 2Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0