rheum (2)

[Greek rheon, rha =common rhubarb, from Rha =the Volga, near which it grows.] Bot.: Rhubarb; a genus of Polygonese. Calyx inferior, petaloid, six-partite; stamens about nine; ovary superior; ovule one, erect; styles three, reflexed; stigma, peltate, entire; achenium three angled, winged, with the withered calyx at the base. Rheum rhaponticum [RHAPONTICUM], is the Common, or Garden Rhubarb. [RHUBARB, 1.] It is used in this country in the making of pies, and is often called PIE PLANT (q. v.). R. of ficin ale (?), or R. palmatum (?), is the officinal Rhubarb [RHUBaramatur, emodi, in the Punjaub Himalaya, from 6,200 to 14,000 feet, with R. moorcroftianum and R. spec i for me, are the chief sources of the Him a lay an or Indian officinal rhubarb. It is le active than the common kind. The stalks of R. emodi are eaten by the Hindus. Other Indian species are R. webbianum, R. nobile, R. arboreum, which yields so much honey that the ground under the plants is wet with it, and R. cinabarinum, said to poison goats in Sikkim. R. undulatum grows in China and Siberia. The roots of R.ribes are used by the Arabs as an acidulous medicine, and its leaf-stalks in the preparation of sherbet. rheû-mą, subst. [Latin & Greek.) The same as RHEUM (1). rheû-mat-ic, *rheû-ma-tic, *rheû-mat-Ick, *rheu-mat-icke, a . Lat. rheumatic us , from Gr. rheum at i kos, from rheum a (gen it. rheumatos ) = rheum; Fr. rheum at i que ; Sp. reumatico ; Ital. reumatico, rematico .] [RHEUM (1).] 1. Of or pertaining to rheumatism; of the nature of rheumatism. "Rheumatic diseases do abound." Shakesp.: Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. cations for the succe ful treatment rheumatism. It frequently becomes chronic, and a umes other forms as well as the articular, or rheumatism of the joints, such as myalgia, or muscular rheum a tism, wry-neck, lumbago, gonorrhœal rheumatism, and Arthritis deformans , in which deformity and twisting of the joints is the most prominent char act eristic.