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Rhubarb Facts
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Is Rhubarb a vegetable or is it a fruit? We believe it should be called a vegetable because the stems of Rhubarb are eaten rather than the fruit.
Rhubarb originates from Siberia, and is a very hardy, frost resistant plant - in fact it needs a period of frost in the winter to produce the best stalks.
Because rhubarb is so hardy and will survive almost total neglect, it is often left to it's devices in preference to other more demanding vegetables. This is a pity, because with minimal treatment at the correct time it will flourish and provide you with delicious stalks at a time when little else is cropping in the garden.
One word of warning - do not eat the leaves of rhubarb - they contain oxalic acid which is definitely poisonous to humans.
RHUBARB
QUICK GUIDE
Latin Name
Rheum rhaponticum
Type
Hardy perennial
Site and Soil
Full sun or partial shade, water retentive soil
Plant to Harvest Time
18 months
The definition from Wikipedia for Rhubarb is as follows:
Rheum is a genus of perennial plants that grow from thick short rhizomes. The genus is in the family Polygonaceae, and includes the vegetable rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum or Rheum x hybridum.) The plants have large leaves that are somewhat triangular shaped with long fleshy petioles. The flowers are small, greenish-white to rose-red, and borne in large compound leafy inflorescences. Rhubarb is often consumed and a number of varieties are grown for their stems which are used in pies and other foods for their tart flavour.
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