Koko-nor, in the snowy range south of Si-ning, and in the Yegrai-ula, near the sources of the Yellow River. We could not ascertain positively if it grows in the neighbouring province of Sze-chuan, but it is not found in Northern Tibet. Thus from all the information we could gather, it is limited to the alpine country of Lake Koko-nor and the sources of the Yellow River.[1]
Another kind (Rheum spiciforme)[2] is also found in the Kan-su mountains, where it only grows in the alpine region. This plant has a thin branched root about four feet long, but is unfit for medicinal purposes. It grows in the Himalayas and Thian Shan, and we often saw its withered leaves in winter in Northern Tibet.
We have already said that the forests grow 10,000 feet above sea-level; higher than this they are replaced by alpine bushes and by meadows; the rhododendra, of which we found four kinds — all pronounced to be new by the botanist Maximovitch
- ↑ The above described plant is not the same as that which has lately been introduced into European gardens as the true rhubarb of commerce, namely R. officinale, Baillon (see Flückiger & Hanbury, 'Pharmacographie,' p. 442). The latter plant is a native of Mongolia, and is described by Bell, of Antermony, in his travels (vol. 1. p. 384-387). Several species are cultivated in Europe, and their roots are extensively used as substitutes for the Chinese plant, especially the R. Rhaponticum, in England, and R. palmatum itself, which has been grown on a large scale in Russia and elsewhere on the Continent, where, however, its central root proves liable to decay. It was long ago ascertained by the French pharmacologist, M. Guibourt, that the root of the cultivated R. palmatum approached most nearly to that of the imported plant. — J. D. H. [See Supplementary Note.]
- ↑ The Tangutans call this kind zarchium, and the Mongols Kur-meh-shara-moto.
