Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Rheum palmatum
Also known as Da Huang
Pronounced Chinese Rhubarb (CHY-neez ROO-barb); Rheum palmatum (REE-um pal-MAY-tum); Da Huang (dah hwahng).
Cold, dry and downward-draining: a bitter purgative that drives out heat, accumulation and stagnant blood, cools the blood, and clears damp-heat.
Avoid. Da Huang is an anthranoid stimulant laxative, and stimulant laxatives are contraindicated in pregnancy because vigorous bowel stimulation can provoke reflex uterine activity; it also carries a strong traditional blood-moving, stasis-dispelling and emmenagogue reputation that Chinese medicine explicitly contraindicates in pregnancy. Modern references classify rhubarb root as not for use during pregnancy. Basis: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (rhubarb root not to be used during pregnancy); ESCOP and German Commission E monographs for anthranoid laxatives (contraindicated in pregnancy); Brinker, Herbal Contraindications and Drug Interactions; corroborated by Chinese materia medica (Bensky et al.).
Avoid medicinal doses. NIH LactMed reports that in an older study anthraquinones were undetectable in the breastmilk of mothers taking laxative doses of rhubarb and their breastfed infants had no noticeable laxative effect, but most current reviewers advise that rhubarb not be used during breastfeeding because of the possibility of cathartic (loosening) effects in the nursing infant. Treat as avoid for medicinal purging doses. Basis: NIH LactMed (Drugs and Lactation Database, Rhubarb, NBK501862); AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed.
Contraindicated in children under 12 years (EMA); anthranoid stimulant laxatives carry a risk of fluid and electrolyte disturbance. Basis: EMA/HMPC EU herbal monograph on Rheum palmatum and Rheum officinale radix, Rev. 1; Commission E and ESCOP guidance for stimulant (anthranoid) laxatives; NCCIH-style insufficient-data precaution for pediatric use.
A stimulant (anthranoid) purgative for short-term use only, not more than 1 week (EMA). Prolonged or habitual use can cause dependence, loss of colonic tone, potassium and fluid depletion, and melanosis coli (a benign, reversible dark pigmentation of the bowel lining). May cause griping and colic, so it is classically combined with warming carminatives. Harmless yellow-brown or reddish discoloration of the urine can occur. The root contains oxalates (far less than the toxic leaf blade, which is never used medicinally), so use caution with a history of calcium-oxalate kidney stones, gout or hyperoxaluria. High doses over long periods have been associated with liver concerns in some reports.
Contraindicated in pregnancy and lactation. Contraindicated in intestinal obstruction or ileus, acute inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis), appendicitis or other acute inflamed abdomen, and abdominal pain of unknown origin (per Commission E for anthranoid laxatives). Contraindicated in children under 12 years (EMA). Use caution in calcium-oxalate kidney stone disease. Avoid in cold, deficient, dry or exhausted constitutions except within a corrective formula.
The medicinal rhubarbs (Rheum palmatum, R. officinale, R. tanguticum) are Chinese and Himalayan species widely cultivated for the trade in Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan; they carry no United Plant Savers listing, which covers North American plants. High-altitude wild Tibetan-plateau populations have faced local overharvest pressure, so favor cultivated, pharmacopoeial-grade root, verify the botanical species, and reject Rhapontic-rhubarb adulteration.
Not named in the canonical biblical texts; native to the high mountains of western China and the Tibetan plateau. It is recorded in Chinese medicine from the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Han era) and was among the earliest Chinese medicines carried west along the Silk Road. The classical Mediterranean world knew an imported purgative root as rha or rheon: Dioscorides (De Materia Medica) and Pliny describe it, and the name rhubarb descends from Rha barbarum, the foreign root from beyond the Rha (the ancient name of the Volga river).
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