Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.....

Having managed the near impossible and got my rhubarb seed up to 2'' my recent visit to Carinthia again (see..The Austrian Garden) I found myself with a dilemma looking at something which had appeared over winter. Was it by any chance a self seeded rhubarb plant? Looks more like dock leaves.... no it can't be...! Well.......
...so back to the research books and the history of rhubarb begins to unfold.


A resume


The first mention in any literature of rhubarb (genus rheum)is in China nearly 5000 years ago. when it is used there for its purgative properties. There is an interesting Rhubarb Compendium elsewhere which gives some examples of its 'miracle powers" as medicine. However the same article gives two bits of more modern information.
The first is the recorded planting of rhubarb was in Italy in 1608 and then more generally in the rest of Europe about 30 years later.
The second is in 1778 where rhubarb now has taken on a new function of food.ie as for pie fillings.


It seems to have got to Maine North America around 1800 where a grower was known to be selling plants to other gardeners. Botanical.com has some nicely illustrated types of rhubarbs - Turkey, English and Monk's. But it is the synonyms of the English rhubarb where the light bulb begins to flicker in our heads....


Synonyms: Garden rhubarb, Bastard Rhubarb ans Sweet Round leaved Dock.


Reading on, later we find that the English rhubarb has red veins .and further on in the Culpeper's description for Monks rhubarb it is referred to a s a dock used for its purgative powers. So have we come full circle? Here is some information on DOCKS.


''The name Dock is applied to a widespread tribe of broad-leaved wayside weeds, having roots possessing astringent qualities united in some with a cathartic principle, rendering them valuable as substitutes for Rhubarb, a plant of the same family.'' from Botanicum.com.


So still I dont know for sure what is growing in her garden as it is red veined but with unusual spade like leaves but I do know a lot more about nrhubarb.


I have discovered


a cordial called ZUCCA made from rhubarb roots and used as a basis for cocktails


the French grow it as a pot herb


At shows the are seen in the vegetable section not the fruit section 

 The chinese at the time of the Opium Wars were more worried about their rhubarb commodity being taken over by the british merchant foreigners


A health problem can come from oxalic acid contained within rhubarb - could cause kidney stones a most horrible illness

A quite extraordinary plant then, which I was addicted to whilst carrying my first child - the owner of said garden.  and since this is meant to have a literary value value as well as a gardening value here is a definition of 'rhubarb, rhubarb...'

(italbrac, theatre or film) (italbrac, mainly UK) Background noise of several "conversations", none of which are decipherable since actually all the actors are only repeating the word rhubarb (chosen because it contains no very sharp or recognisable phonemes) or other words with similar attributes. In UK use there is no implication that the "conversations" are intended to be angry, though they may be

For background information of all sorts:
www.rhubarbinfo.com