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rhubarb
(redirected from Medicinal Rhubarb)

   Also found in: Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.17 sec.
rhubarb: see buckwheat buckwheat, common name for certain members of the Polygonaceae, a family of herbs and shrubs found chiefly in north temperate areas and having a characteristic pungent juice containing oxalic acid. Species native to the United States are most common in the West.
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rhubarb

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Rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum)
(credit: Derek Fell)
Any of several species of the genus Rheum (family Polygonaceae), especially R. rhaponticum (or R. rhabarbarum), a hardy perennial grown for its large, succulent, edible leafstalks. Rhubarb is best adapted to the cooler parts of the temperate zones. The fleshy, tart, and highly acid leafstalks are used in pies, compotes and preserves, and sometimes as the base of a wine or an aperitif. The roots withstand cold well. The huge leaves that unfold in early spring are toxic to cattle and humans; later in the season a large central flower stalk may bear numerous small, greenish-white flowers and angular, winged fruits. Rhubarb root has long been considered to have cathartic and purgative properties.


rhubarb
1. any of several temperate and subtropical plants of the polygonaceous genus Rheum, esp R. rhaponticum (common garden rhubarb), which has long green and red acid-tasting edible leafstalks, usually eaten sweetened and cooked
2. the leafstalks of this plant
3. a related plant, Rheum officinale, of central Asia, having a bitter-tasting underground stem that can be dried and used medicinally as a laxative or astringent

rhubarb
symbol of approaching pitfalls. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 177]
See : Danger


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