On the So-Called Bucharian Rhubarb.
By A. FERO, of Moscow.
In my thesis on the kinds of rhubarb at present in Russian Commerce (See Amer. Journ. Ph. 1867, 212.), I have described a so-called Bucharian Rhubarb, which was frequently met with in Russia during the years 1864 and 1865. I was at that time unable to discover the route by which it had entered Russia; but the fact was that it was in considerable quantity at the fair of Nishni-Nowgorad, also in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and was likewise often sold in the southwestern provinces of Russia. Prof. Dragendorff has investigated its history and furnished me with conclusive evidence that it did not come from Bucharia, but was imported from the west into Russia. The law forbidding the entry into Russia of all except the crown rhubarb, being then still in force, the name had evidently been selected to cover up its true origin. Even in Germany attempts were made in 1866 to introduce this rhubarb under the false and nonsensical name of Japanese rhubarb, and in 1868 it was there sold as flat English rhubarb. This latter name it ought to retain in future, since it was imported from England and most likely cultivated there.—Pharm. Zeitschr. f. Russl., 1870, Sept. 511.
J. M. M.
