Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

More than Pie Filling

Family: Polygonaceae; (include Buckwheat)

Genus and Species: Rheum Officinale, R. Palma Tum; garden rhubarb, R. Rhaponticum has similar but less powerful action

Also known as: Rheum, or Chinese, Himalayan, Turkish, or Medicinal Rhubarb

Parts used: Roots

Rhubarb is an odd plant. Its roots are medicinal. Its stems make tasty pies. And its leaves are poisonous.

Powerful Asian Laxative

Chinese physicians have used rhubarb root since ancient times. They prescribed it externally as a treatment for cuts and burns and internally in small amounts for dysentery. They also discovered that large amounts have powerful laxative action and promote menstruation. Over the centuries, the Indians, Russians, and Europeans adopted rhubarb as a Healing herb and discovered their own native species have similar, though less powerful effects.

Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper endorsed rhubarb’s laxative action: “This herb purges downward.” He also recommended it externally as “a most effectual remedy to heal scabs and running sores.” In addition,

Culpeper claimed rhubarb “heals jaundice provokes urine … is very effectual for reins [gonorrheal and helps gout sciatica … toothache … the stone [kidney stones I … and dimness of sight.”

Later herbalists repudiated most of Culpeper’s recommendations and returned to prescribing small doses of rhubarb root for diarrhea and larger doses as a laxative.

Widely Used for Dysentery

America’s 19th-century Eclectics used rhubarb primarily to treat diarrhea and dysentery. King’s American Dispensatory noted its effectiveness for constipation but said “it sometimes produces griping [cramping].” The Eclectics also considered the herb helpful in treating “hepatic derangement” (liver problems) and delirium tremens.

Bacterial dysentery was a common-and often fatal-disease in British East Africa between the World Wars. In 1921, Nairobi-based physician R. W. Burkitt wrote in Lancet that he’d treated it with rhubarb almost exclusively for three years: “I know of no remedy in medicine which has such a magical effect. No one who has ever used rhubarb would dream of using anything else … in this dreadful tropical scourge.”

Contemporary herbalists are divided on rhubarb. Some recommend low doses for diarrhea and large doses for constipation. Others simply recommend it as a laxative.

The ancient Chinese appear to have been right about rhubarb’s dual effects.

Diarrhea - Studies show small amounts of this herb help treat diarrhea.

Constipation - Large amounts have powerful laxative action. Rhubarb contains similar laxative chemicals (anthraquinones) as those found in buckthorn, cascara sagrada, and senna.

Anthraquinone laxatives should be used only as a last resort to treat constipation. First, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water, and get more exercise. If that doesn’t work, try a bulk-forming laxative such as psyllium. If you still need help, try cascara sagrada, generally regarded as the gentlest anthraquinone. After that. try rhubarb - or buckthorn or senna; in consultation with a physician.

Women’s Health - Some animal studies suggest rhubarb stimulates uterine contractions, lending some credence to its use in China as a menstruation promoter. Thus, pregnant women should try to avoid it. Other women might try it to begin their periods.

Rx for Rhubarb

For diarrhea, make a decoction by gently boiling ½ teaspoon of powdered root per cup of water for 10 minutes. Take I tablespoon at a time periodically, up to 1 cup per day. Rhubarb tastes bitter and unpleasant.

In a tincture, use ¼ teaspoon per day.

For constipation, make a decoction by boiling 1 to 2 teaspoons of powdered root per cup of water for 10 minutes. Take I tablespoon at a time, up to 1 cup per day.

In a tincture, use ½ to 1 teaspoon a day.

Rhubarb should not be given to children under age 2. For older children and people over 65, start with low-strength preparations and increase strength if necessary.

Alert: Because of rhubarb’s powerful action, laxative amounts should not be used by those with chronic intestinal problems, such as ulcers or colitis.

Pregnant and nursing women should not use anthraquinone laxatives.

Laxative amounts of rhubarb should not be used for more than two weeks, because over time, it causes lazy bowel syndrome, an inability to move stool without chemical stimulation.

Rhubarb stems are used in pie fillings, but the plant’s leaf blades contain oxalic acid, which is poisonous, causing burning in the mouth and throat, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and other symptoms. Fatalities have occurred.

Rhubarb may color the urine bright yellow or red.

Other Cautions

For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults who are not taking other laxatives, rhubarb is considered relatively safe in amounts typically recommended when used for brief periods.

Rhubarb should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. If rhubarb causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

It’s Really Big

Medicinal rhubarb is a large, leafy perennial that reaches 10 feet. Its root is thick and branching, brown on the outside and yellow inside. Its stems are round, hollow, and jointed and terminate in branching spikes of numerous small flowers. The medicinal species are not garden herbs.

Garden rhubarb reaches only 3 feet. It has thick roots, reddish outside, yellow inside, and purple stems. Garden rhubarb is considered less potent in herbal Healing. If you use it medicinally, start with the amounts recommended above, but be prepared to adjust them upward.

Garden rhubarb requires a dormant period in winter and does not do well in the South, where winters are warm. Sow seeds or root cuttings 4 feet apart in late spring in deeply dug, well-watered beds under full sun or partial shade. Add compost and mulch in winter.

Harvest stems for pies the second year, roots the fourth.