Rhubarb

Description

Rhubarb is a hardy perennial herbaceous plant, cultivated and sometimes naturalised in regions with a temperate climate. The rhizome of this plant, with its characteristic pleasantly bitter taste, has aromatic and medicinal properties: it stimulates the appetite and digestion and, in larger doses, acts as a purgative. The genus includes several species that can form clumps ranging from less than one metre to about three metres in height.

Stem

The large, reddish, juicy stalks have the same medicinal properties as the roots; they are usually used in cooking, where they serve for making jams or are candied.

Leaves

Rhubarb leaves are large, deep green in colour, in some varieties with red tinges, they are entire or divided into lobes. Some varieties of rhubarb, and in particular Rheum palmatum, are of great ornamental value precisely because of their broad, well-shaped leaves.

Flowers

In summer, at the top of erect stems, rising well above the leaves, the panicles of yellowish flowers open, greenish or bright red.

Exposure

Sun or half-shade are the exposures this plant prefers: which is the more suitable should be judged according to the climatic zone in which it is grown.

Propagation

The most common method of propagation is dividing the clumps, which can be done in spring or autumn. Seed can also be sown in spring.

Growth

This herbaceous plant is not demanding, but it fears drought, so it is important to ensure that the clumps are watered regularly; in addition, an organic fertilisation will be welcome in spring. Rhubarb plants should be divided about every five years to rejuvenate them and make them more productive.

Harvesting

The moment when the stalks are mature, that is, when they have reached their full development, is at the end of summer.

Storage

The roots, cut into pieces, are dried. The stalks are candied or cooked to make compotes and jams.

Properties

IN THE KITCHEN: A few stalks of rhubarb added to the strawberries used to make jam decidedly enhance its flavour, which would otherwise tend to be too sweet. IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN: Burying a few pieces of rhubarb in the soil where savoy cabbages and cabbages have been sown keeps away a parasite called Plasmodiophora brassicae, responsible for clubroot, a disease that causes the plants to waste away.

Beauty

Those who wish to give their hair Titian highlights, that is, copper-coloured, without resorting to dyes, can try steeping a few pieces of rhubarb, either fresh or dried, in white wine. After a week of steeping, the lotion obtained, well filtered, should be applied to the hair at the end of each wash.

Health

To obtain an infusion beneficial to the liver, pour 100 grams of boiling water over 6 grams of dried and powdered rhubarb stalks and roots and 2 grams of sodium bicarbonate. After shaking the infusion well, leave it to cool, filter it and add cold water until there is one litre of liquid. Two tablespoons of this infusion, taken before meals, combat loss of appetite and help the liver.

Curiosity

Rhubarb is an ancient plant, it appears to have been cultivated in Asia as early as 2700 years before the birth of Christ. To the Greeks, who made great use of it for its medicinal virtues, we owe its present name: for to the noun "ra", which designated this herbaceous plant in Greek, added the adjective "barbaron", referring to the fact that it was grown in barbarian lands.