Rhubarb

ru'barb, a heavy-leafed relative of the dock, sheep sorrel, buckwheat, and smartweed. The similarity may be noticed in juice and seed. Common rhubarb is thought to be a native of southern Siberia. The clustered root-stocks are dried for the druggist; the leaf-stalks are the famous "pieplant" of American markets. There is very little sentiment connected with pieplant, but it is a substantial addition nevertheless to the kitchen garden. Gardeners vie with each other in producing mammoth tender stems by banking the growing plant.