Rheum officinale | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Eudicots |
(unranked): | Core eudicots |
Order: | Caryophyllales |
Family: | Polygonaceae |
Genus: | Rheum |
Species: | R. officinale |
Binomial name | |
Rheum officinale L. |
Rheum officinale, the Chinese rhubarb or Tibetan rhubarb, is a rhubarb from the family Polygonaceae native to China.
Rheum officinale is used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called yào yòng dà huáng (Chinese: 药用大黄), and is also a component in the North American herbal remedy called Essiac tea.
In modern medicine, R. officinale has been studied for the treatment of hepatitis B. However, a meta-analysis of published clinical trials concluded that the quality of existing studies was "poor", but further study of R. officinale in combination with interferon is "justified".