256. RHEUM palmatum. TURKEY RHUBARB. Roots. L. E. D.--Rhubarb is a mild
cathartic, which operates without violence or irritation, and may be
given with safety even to pregnant women and to children. In some
people, however, it always occasions severe griping. Besides its
purgative quality, it is celebrated for an astringent one, by which it
strengthens the tone of the stomach and intestines, and proves useful in
diarrhoea and disorders proceeding from a laxity of the fibres. Rhubarb
in substance operates more powerfully as a cathartic than any of the
preparations of it. Watery tinctures purge more than the spirituous
ones; whilst the latter contain in greater perfection the aromatic,
astringent, and corroborating virtues of the rhubarb. The dose, when
intended as a purgative, is from a scruple to a dram or more.
The Turkey rhubarb is, among us, universally preferred to the East India
sort.
The plant is common in our gardens, but their medicinal powers are much
weaker than in those from abroad.
RHODODENDRON Chrysanthemum. YELLOW-FLOWERED RHODODENDRON. See No. 290.
257. RHUS Toxicodendron. POISON-OAK. Leaves. L. E.--Of considerable use
in paralytic affections, and is much used in the present day.
It is, however, often substituted by the Rhus radicans, which has not
the medical properties that this plant has; and it is to be regretted
that the leaves of both species are so much alike, that, when gathered,
they are not to be distinguished.
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