These writers use rhubarb as a purgative, but also use it for many urinary tract diseases, and to increase the flow of semen.
It is difficult to find European references for rhubarb beyond Byzantium, but medicinal use of the stems and roots is noted by 10th-century "Arab" physicians Yahya ibn Sarafyun (Serapion the Elder) of Syria and Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) of Uzbekistan. Most of the time, goods traded hands many times as they traversed the Old World.Īs rhubarb's reputation as a cure-all spread across continents, so the price of the root rose precipitously, until the finest quality rhubarb was more expensive than cinnamon or saffron. Only rarely were shipments carried long distances by a single merchant or carrier. The reason for this confusion about the origin of rhubarb is because of the patchwork nature of trade on the Silk Road. The Greek physician, Pedanius Dioscorides wrote in his first-century work, "De Materia Medica," that rhubarb came from, "beyond the Bosporus," in Turkey while the later Roman writer, Ammianus Marcellinus believed it to come from the "lands of the northern Caucasus near the Volga River inhabited by the Amazons" (Scythians). In Greco-Roman culture, rhubarb was used as a general purgative, and was considered useful in combating many diseases. Trade to the West for medicinal purposes started early. In this work, rhubarb is used to treat malaria, people who have delirious speech with fever, and constipation, among many other maladies. The first mention of rhubarb use is in "The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica," which is part of a Chinese oral tradition that probably reaches back to the second century B.C. The Chinese were the first to document the use rhubarb - as a medicine. Genetic analysis of plant diversity tells us that rhubarb's origins are probably on the Tibetan Plateau, but that it spread early into northwestern China and to some of the bordering areas of Central Asia and Mongolia. Fluorescent pink stems topped with deep green, chard-like leaves will soon fill the market shelves, so it seems a good time to tell some of the Silk Road history of this amazing plant. This means that the early crops of rhubarb should be out by month's end.
The green tips of daffodils and jonquils are pushing through the still firm soil, and in some sunny spots, snowdrops and crocus are already starting to bloom. The first rumblings of spring have reached the Central Atlantic.
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