''Rheum ribes'', the Syrian rhubarb or currant-fruited rhubarb, or warty-leaved rhubarb, is an

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

wild rhubarb species in the genus ''

Rheum Rheum (; from Greek: ῥεῦμα ''rheuma'' 'a flowing, rheum') is a thin mucus naturally discharged from the eyes, nose, or mouth, often during sleep (cf. mucopurulent discharge).Amodio, Aime"Where Do Eye Boogers Come From?" Families.com bl ...

''. It grows between 1000 and 4000 m on

dunite Dunite (), also known as olivinite (not to be confused with the mineral olivenite), is an intrusive igneous rock of ultramafic composition and with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. The mineral assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, with mi ...

rocks, among stones and slopes, and is now distributed in the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

regions of the world, chiefly in

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

(

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

) to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and also in ladakh(Kargil) region of India. The Syrian rhubarb is a partially commercial vegetable collected from wild patches in Eastern and Southern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, Northern Iraq and partly Northwestern Iran in early spring. ''Rheum ribes'' is considered as a valuable medicinal species in

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

Description

The Syrian rhubarb is a dichotomously branched

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

stout herb, up to 1 m tall. It has thick perennial

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s, large annual bean-shaped reddish-green leaves with stalks, edible flower stalks, small yellowish flowers arranged in

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s, three-sided ovate-oblong

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

s and broad red-winged dull brown fruit. The flowering stem ( peduncle) is solid, warty, leafy below, leafless above.Van Herbaryumu
/ref>

Similar species

It is very similar to the species ''

Rheum palaestinum ''Rheum palaestinum'', the desert rhubarb, is a plant indigenous to Israel and Jordan with a highly developed system for gathering rainwater. The plant has broad, rigid leaves, with a waxy surface, and channels cut into them that funnel any wa ...

'', being distinguished by having five central leaf veins as opposed to three, and being taller.

Agnia Losina-Losinskaja Agnia Sergeyevna Losina-Losinskaja () (1903–1958) was a Soviet botanist. Her family name is also transcribed as Lozina-Lozinscaia, and Lozina-Lozinskaja. She is the author or co-author of the botanical names of at least 216 taxa, including spe ...

considered it very similar in leaves and flowers to ''R. maximowiczii'' from further north in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, but to be distinguished from it by its much rougher stem, much longer leaf petioles and broader

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

. ''R. maximowiczii'' furthermore has three veins per leaf.

Karyotypy

''R. ribes'' has a

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

count of 2''n''=44.

Taxonomy

''Rheum ribes'' was first formally described in 1753 by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

. It was one of three species of ''Rheum'' described in ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

'' volume 1. Linnaeus referred to five earlier authors who had described the plant:

Johann Jacob Dillenius Johann Jacob Dillen Dillenius (1684 – 2 April 1747) was a German botanist. He is known for his ''Hortus Elthamensis'' ("Eltham Garden") on the rare plants around Eltham, London, and for his ''Historia muscorum'' ("History of Mosses"), a natur ...

Jacob Breyne Jacob Breyne (14 January 1637 – 25 January 1697) was a Polish merchant, naturalist, and artist, born in Gdańsk, Danzig (Gdańsk), Royal Prussia (a fief of the Crown of Poland). He was the father of Johann Philipp Breyne. Biography Breyne was in ...

(who calls it a ''Lapathum'', known as ''Ribes arabicum''),

Richard Pococke Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765)''Notes and Queries'', p. 129. was an English-born churchman, inveterate traveller and travel writer. He was the Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church ...

(who published in 1745 a description of his travels in the Near East and who brought seeds to England from Lebanon),

Leonhard Rauwolf Leonhard Rauwolf (also spelled Leonhart Rauwolff) (21 June 1535 – 15 September 1596) was a German physician, botanist, and traveller. His main notability arises from a trip he made through the Levant and Mesopotamia in 1573–75. The motive of t ...

and

Gaspard Bauhin Gaspard Bauhin or Caspar Bauhin ( la, Casparus Bauhinus; 17 January 1560 – 5 December 1624), was a Swiss botanist whose ''Pinax theatri botanici'' (1623) described thousands of plants and classified them in a manner that draws comparisons to t ...

. In 1936 Losina-Losinskaja, in Komarov's ''Flora SSSR'', classifies this species in

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

Ribesiformia, in which she also places ''R. maximowiczii'', ''R. fedtschenkoi'', ''R. cordatum'', ''R. hissaricum'' and ''R. macrocarpum'' (and ''R. lobatum'' and ''R. plicatum'', which are both now seen as synonyms of ''R. macrocarpum'').

History

This plant is first mentioned in Europe in the Arabic work, in English called the ''Book of Simple Medicaments'', by

Serapion the Younger Serapion the Younger was the author of a medicinal-botany book entitled ''The Book of Simple Medicaments''. The book is dated to the 12th or 13th century. He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from Serapion the Elder, aka Yahya ibn Sarafy ...

, the Latin translation of which circulated throughout Europe in the late 13th to 15th century. Serapion says the plant is used to make the medicine thenceforth known in Europe as ''rob ribes''. In Europe, herbalists initially thought he was describing a currant, which they then used to make local, lesser ''ribes''. One of the first European works to write about this plant unambiguously was the ''Viertes Kreutterbuech - darein vil schoene und frembde Kreutter'' of 1576 by Leonhard Rauwolf, the first modern European botanist to travel through the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. The ''Viertes Kreutterbuech'' is one of the first ''

herbaria A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

'' – the first with plants collected outside of Europe – and contains Rauwolf's notes on the pressed plants displayed. Rauwolf calls the plant ''Ribes arabum'' and saw it growing in

and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. He says the ''rob ribes'' of Serapion is made from the young flowering stalk. In the 1623 ''Pinax Theatri Botanici'', Gaspard Bauhin attempts to sort all the plant names hitherto published. In this work he organises all '' Grossularia'' and ''

Ribes ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible f ...

'' species known at the time into 13 species, the twelfth of which is ''Rheum ribes'', which Bauhin calls ''Ribes arabicum''. Bauhin bases this on the work of Rauwolf, but also Clusius (who calls it ''Ribes legitima arabum''), Camerarius (''Ribes serapionis''),

Rembert Dodoens Rembert Dodoens (born Rembert Van Joenckema, 29 June 1517 – 10 March 1585) was a Flemish physician and botanist, also known under his Latinized name Rembertus Dodonaeus. He has been called the father of botany. Life Dodoens was born Rember ...

(''Ribes serapionis foliis oxylapathi'') and

Pierre Belon Pierre Belon (1517–1564) was a French traveller, naturalist, writer and diplomat. Like many others of the Renaissance period, he studied and wrote on a range of topics including ichthyology, ornithology, botany, comparative anatomy, architectur ...

. In 1732, Johann Jacob Dillenius published his ''Hortus Elthamensis'' – a book of rare plants grown in London – which describes this plant. He calls it a type of ''Lapathum'' (now ''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

''), but mentions that it is known as ''Ribes arabicum''. Dillenius obtained seeds in 1726 from

William Sherard William Sherard (27 February 1659 – 11 August 1728) was an English botanist. Next to John Ray, he was considered to be one of the outstanding English botanists of his day. Life He is still a little-known figure of that era coming as he did from ...

, who brought them from Lebanon in 1724. He mentions that it was only grown elsewhere in Europe in

Leyden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, from an older source. The specific epithet ''ribes'' is thus derived via Serapion from the Arabic word ''rībās'' (ريباس), referring to the Syrian rhubarb. The New Latin word ''ribes'' (currant) was corrupted from the Arabic word ''rībās'' by Europeans in the Renaissance, possibly due confusion with the original description of the bunches of berries on its panicle of fruit, with currants, a new crop at the time. ''R. ribes'', unlike many other species of rhubarb, has a fleshy, succulent

epicarp Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggr ...

around its seeds. The generic name ''Rheum'' is derived from the Greek ''rheon'', mentioned by

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vol ...

as a name for medicinal rhubarb; the word ''rheon'' is itself thought to be derived from the (old) Persian ''rewend'', which possibly referred to this species.

Distribution

It is native to Syria (including the occupied

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

),Wild Flowers of Israel
/ref> Azerbaijan (including Nakhichevan), Jordan, Lebanon, Armenia (as of 2011), Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Russia.

Ecology

Habitat

It is a floristic element of the Irano-Turanian

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

or Iran-Turan Plant Geography Region. It is found in eastern Turkey on dry mountain slopes at 1600-2600m elevation in association with the plants '' Prangos ferulacea'' and ''

Cousinia sivasica The genus ''Cousinia'' of the tribe Cardueae is in its current circumscription one of the larger genera in the Asteraceae, with approximately 650-700 species distributed in central and western Asia. Many of the species in this genus were once cl ...

'' with which it forms the dominant flora such ecosystems. In Israel it is found on rocky slopes and cliffs in the transition zone of montane forests of ''

Quercus boissieri ''Quercus infectoria'' or the Aleppo oak is a species of oak well known for producing galls (called manjakani in Malaysia, majuphal in India) that have been traditionally used for centuries in Asia medicinally while also used in softening leathe ...

''.

Insects

''Rheum ribes'' is the main food plant of a tiny

hairstreak The subfamily Theclinae is a group of butterflies, often referred to as hairstreaks, with some species instead known as elfins or by other names. The group is part of the family Lycaenidae, the "gossamer-winged butterflies". There are many tropi ...

butterfly, ''

Callophrys mystaphia The genus ''Callophrys'' consists of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. It is apparently not monophyletic, but which of the taxa currently considered junior synonyms of ''Callophrys'' are valid genera remains to be determined. The Asian and Eu ...

'', of which the Turkish name is ''ışgınzümrütü'', the 'rhubarb emerald', in Adiyaman, Hakkâri,

Iğdır Iğdır ( Turkish ; ku, Îdir or ; hy, Իգդիր, Igdir, also ) is the capital of Iğdır Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. History Iğdır went by the Armenian name of Tsolakert during the Middle Ages. s.v. "Igdir," Armenia ...

Kahramanmaraş Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahrama ...

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

Siirt Siirt ( ar, سِعِرْد, Siʿird; hy, Սղերդ, S'gherd; syr, ܣܥܪܬ, Siirt; ku, Sêrt) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province. The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188. History Pr ...

and Van provinces in southeastern and eastern

. This butterfly had not been seen since its description in 1913 (it turned out that the butterflies identified under this name in the former Soviet territories were in fact a different species), but in 2007–2008 it was rediscovered and its host plant was found. This animal has a distribution closely localised to ''Rheum'' populations, and has only been found in Turkey. ''R. ribes'' leaves are the food plant of the moth '' Xylena exsoleta'' in

Van Province Van Province ( tr, Van ili, ku, Parezgêha Wanê, Armenian: Վանի մարզ) is a province in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at ...

, Turkey. Beetles associated with ''R. ribes'' in eastern Turkey are a '' Petrocladus'' sp.

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

, the

jewel beetle Buprestidae is a family of beetles known as jewel beetles or metallic wood-boring beetles because of their glossy iridescent colors. Larvae of this family are known as flatheaded borers. The family is among the largest of the beetles, with some ...

'' Capnodis marquardti'', and the

leaf beetle The insects of the beetle family Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles, and include over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making up one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle ...

Labidostomis brevipennis ''Labidostomis'' is a genus of short-horned leaf beetles belonging to the family Chrysomelidae, subfamily Cryptocephalinae. Species Species within this genus include: * ''Labidostomis amurensis'' Heyden, 1884 * ''Labidostomis asiatica'' Falderm ...

''. These are all specialised herbivores of the plant, and most appear endemic to Turkey as far as known. ''L. brevipennis'' lays its eggs on the leaves.

Cooking

The edible part of the plant is the flowering stem, which is eaten raw or cooked (''ekşili ışgın'' and ''ışkınlı yumurta'' it. 'eggs with wild rhubarb, Rheum ribes'in

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. It is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plain on which the city extends has an altitude of . El ...

, Turkey; ''khoresh rivas'' �ورش ریواسor "Persian rhubarb stew" in Iran) by the local people of

.Seval Andıç, Yusuf Tunçtürk, Elvan Ocak and Senol Köse (2009)
Some Chemical Characteristics of Edible Wild Rhubarb Species (''Rheum Ribes'' L.)
Research Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, 5(6): 973-977, 2009 The flowering stem (the petiole) is often eaten raw as

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

, sometimes sold in the local markets of Northern Balochistan.

Traditional and current medicinal uses

''Rheum ribes'' is the source of one of the most important crude

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...

in West Asiatic regions. These plant vitamins A, B, C are seen in abundance. Syrian rhubarb root (''Rhizoma Rhei ribi'') is used traditionally to treat

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

hemorrhoids Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''hemo ...

ulcers An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...

, and

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

. The plant is also used as a digestive and appetizer in

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

, Turkey. Traditional

stem and root dry plant for the treatment of

anemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

weakness Weakness is a symptom of a number of different conditions. The causes are many and can be divided into conditions that have true or perceived muscle weakness. True muscle weakness is a primary symptom of a variety of skeletal muscle diseases, i ...

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

, depression and

. Traditionally ''Rheum ribes'' has been used in Iran as

sedative A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement. They are CNS depressants and interact with brain activity causing its deceleration. Various kinds of sedatives can be distinguished, but t ...

and mood enhancer. The

anthraquinones ''For the parent molecule 9,10-anthraquinone, see anthraquinone'' Anthraquinones (also known as anthraquinonoids) are a class of naturally occurring phenolic compounds based on the 9,10-anthraquinone skeleton. They are widely used industrially an ...

chrysophanol,

parietin Parietin is the predominant cortical pigment of lichens in the genus ''Caloplaca'', a secondary product of the lichen ''Xanthoria parietina'', and a pigment found in the roots of Curled Dock (''Rumex crispus''). It has an orangy-yellow color and ...

and

emodin Emodin (6-methyl-1,3,8-trihydroxyanthraquinone) is a chemical compound, of the anthraquinone family, that can be isolated from rhubarb, buckthorn, and Japanese knotweed ('' Reynoutria japonica'' syn. ''Polygonum cuspidatum''). Emodin is particula ...

, the

flavonoids Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans. Chemically, flavonoids ...

quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor a ...

fisetin Fisetin (7,3′,4′- flavon-3-ol) is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It can be found in many plants, where it serves as a yellow/ochre colouring agent. It is also found in many fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries, ...

, quercetin 3-0-rhamnoside, quercetin 3-0-galactoside and quercetin 3-0-rutinoside were isolated from the shoots of Syrian rhubarb.Fatma Tosun & Çiğdem Akyüz-Kızılay (2003)
Anthraquinones and Flavonoids from Rheum ribes / Rheum ribes Bitkisinin Antrakinonları ve Flavonoitleri
Ankara Ecz. Fak. Derg. 32(1)31-35,2003

Conservation

In Israel it is an extremely rare plant found at two sites in the mountains of the

, but it is not protected by law.

Names

Antiquated English names

rhubarb-currant, warted-leaved rhubarb, rhubarb of Babilonia

Local names

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: ''rībās'' (ريباس) or ''rāvandu'r-rībāṣ'' (راوند الريباص ) (lit. "rībās rhubarb''), in old Arabi
'utrufan
as in the pre-Islamic poetry of Abu Du'ad al-Iyadi *

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

''xanjil haġarǰi'' (Խանձիլ հաղարջի) or Turkish

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

''išxun'' (իշխուն) * Azerbaijani ''qarağat rəvəndi'' (lit. "currant rhubarb") *

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī � ...

(Afghan Persian) ''čukri'' (چکری) *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

''ribes hermoni'' (ריבס חרמוני) (lit. "rhubarb of

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...

'') *

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

''ribêz, rêvaz, rêvas, rêwas, rêwaz'' / ''ڕێواس'' *

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

''rīvās'' (ريواس) *

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

ревень смородинный *

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

''yaġmīṣā''The Medieval Islamic Underworld
The Banū Sāsān in Arabic Society and Literature, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, 1976 (ܝܓܡܝܨܐ) * Turkish ''ışgın''. From Middle Turkic Divânu Lügati't-Türk by

Mahmud al-Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari, ''Maḥmūd ibnu 'l-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Kāšġarī'', , tr, Kaşgarlı Mahmûd, ug, مەھمۇد قەشقىرى, ''Mehmud Qeshqiri'' / Мәһмуд Қәшқири uz, Mahmud Qashg'ariy / М ...

: ''ışgun''Divanü Lûgat-it-Türk Tercümesi, çeviren Besim Atalayi TDK yayınları:521, Ankara 1941, cilt: 1, sayfa: 109 (اِشْغُنْ) *

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Zazaki Zaza or Zazaki (), is an Iranian language spoken primarily in eastern Turkey by the Zazas. The language is a part of the Zaza–Gorani language group of the northwestern group of the Iranian branch. The glossonym Zaza originated as a pejorati ...

''rıbês'' *

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

''پښۍ''

References

External links

Eight images of ''Rheum ribes'' from Van Herbarium
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1376178

ribes ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible f ...

Medicinal plants Stem vegetables Flora of Turkey Flora of Iran Flora of Iraq Flora of Lebanon and Syria Flora of Armenia Flora of Azerbaijan Flora of Jordan Flora of Afghanistan Flora of Pakistan Flora of Palestine (region) Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus