Oh my god!

[Philippe]

Pic found on http://www.jansalpines.com

It simply hurts
How do the rheum nobile grow?
I think it takes some years to reach flowering stage, and after done, begins a totally new growth from the root?
But do you think a plant can recover from such a radical treatment, as shown on the pic?
Didn't know that there were other parts than the foliage for medicinal use.
Grrr, they could have taken another less showy rhubarb for such purpose 

[daveyp1970]

Philippe i think the plant would be fine as far as i can tell thats just the flower spike no rootsock,you need a large vase for that though.

[Maggi Young]

You might have seen the photo in the IRG, too, Philippe.....in the June 2010 issue of International Rock Gardener e-magazine :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2010Jul141279102139IRGJUNE.pdf

The Rheum stems are used  in herbal medicine and , as Harry says in the IRG, there are some Rheum  populations suffering from over collection for that purpose. Over-collecting apart, I would not have thought that careful harvesting of stems need necessarily mean the death of the plant - think of the lifespan of our edible rhubarbs, which can be cropped over many years.
Of course, if native collecting consists of violent chopping of the main part of the plant then the risk of permanent damage/death to the plant must be a possibility.


This is the home page of International Rock Gardener e-magazine:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=international  

[Richard Green]

My mother used to cut the flower stalks off her garden rhubarb every year as soon as they appeared.  She said that they took the goodness from the plant and left more energy to produce leaves and edible stalks.  If her delicious Rhubarb Crumble was anything to go by then she was right. 

But then my mother had no need to want the plants seeding everywhere......

[Maggi Young]

Good point Richard.... with the flowering stalks cut out then the only increase can be by the plant increasing vegetatively, which isn't good news for a really successful  continuing population.

[Stephenb]

My mother used to cut the flower stalks off her garden rhubarb every year as soon as they appeared.  She said that they took the goodness from the plant and left more energy to produce leaves and edible stalks.  If her delicious Rhubarb Crumble was anything to go by then she was right. 

I used to do that too, until I discovered that the flower umbels make a delicious vegetable served, for example, like cauliflower cheese.... Rhubarb is, after all, a vegetable and many of the species are used gathered from the wild or cultivated as a vegetable - only we in the west have turned it into a "fruit".... However, I haven't found any analysis of the oxalic acid content of the flowers - the leaves contain quite high levels of course, so one shouldn't overdo it...

It's really quite an attractive plant in flower too:

[Lesley Cox]

As is the diminutive Rheum delavayi

[Philippe]

As we finally are in the rhubarbs, here's a shot of the rheum tibeticum, in the very first days of last spring.
Young leaves in the prettiest red colour, and flowering stem ready to shot out. A beautiful little rhubarb.
My R.alexandrae did quite will this year, with as always lovely leaves and 3 flower stems ( but few seed was produced, and previous sowing last year didn't give any seedling at all 'til today).

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for that picture Philippe, because I have the plant pictured here, as R. tibeticum, grown from seed but I can't remember the source. It's very attractive and relatively short and perhaps someone could suggest a name for it. I once had R. spiciforme too which was wonderful but after about 4 years it didn't come up after one winter.

[cohan]

when herbal collecting was for a rather small 'local' market, it was likely different from these days of global consumption

i'm hoping to try some of these exotic rhubarbs here... i can only hope they might be as hardy as the regular garden stuff!

[Philippe]

Thanks for that picture Philippe, because I have the plant pictured here, as R. tibeticum, grown from seed but I can't remember the source. It's very attractive and relatively short and perhaps someone could suggest a name for it. I once had R. spiciforme too which was wonderful but after about 4 years it didn't come up after one winter.
(Attachment Link)

I'm no specialist of rhubarb, but this could well be rheum tibeticum too! Mine in summer really looks like the one you have here on your picture.

[Hoy]

When we reached this ridge in Turkey I didn't want to continue but my friends did and our guide so I had to follow! Mt Suphan, east Turkey.

Campanula aucheri (edited to add plant name in text)

[arillady]

What a marvellous picture Hoy. Once the native habitat of a species is shown it is a whole lot easier to know how to grow it in a garden setting.

[Paddy Tobin]

Wonderful photograph. Hoy.
Paddy

[Hoy]

Thank both! It was a marvellous and wonderful place to walk too