Rhubarb Rheum Rheum rhaponticum L

Rhubarb
Rheum
Rheum rhaponticum L.
FAMILY: Polygonaceae

This family of plants contains at least 40 genera and more than 800 species, all with jointed stems. Other characters include leaf stipules: united into a tubular sheath called an ocrea; sepals: petaloid; petals: absent; fruit: an achene. The Polygonaceae are not known for their poisonous members but for useful ones such as buckwheat and various ornamental plants. Many elements in the family are weedy.

DISTRIBUTION:
Rheum rhaponticum is a cultivated plant that occasionally escapes from the garden.

DESCRIPTION:
Rhubarb can be identified by leaves: large, basal, in clumps; ovate with cordate bases; leaf blades: up to 1.5 m long, margins wavy; petioles: as long as leaf blades, often red, stout; sepals: 6, greenish, whitish, or reddish; stamens: 6 (9); fruit: a 3-winged achene.

TOXIC PARTS:
The flat leaf blade is toxic.

TOXICITY:
Human consumption of the rhubarb leaf results in gastroenteritis, cramps. nausea, vomiting, weakness, respiratory difficulties, irritation of the mouth and throat, poor clotting of the blood, internal hemorrhaging, coma, and death. In hogs the symptoms are staggering, salivation, convulsions, and death.

TOXIC PRINCIPLES:
Oxalic acid, uncharacterized soluble oxalates, and possibly other toxins are believed responsible for poisonings.

TREATMENT:
Gasric lavage and emesis with lime water, chalk, or calcium salts; calcium gluconate, parentral fluids; Treat symptoms as they appear, supportive therapy.