Rheum orientalixizangense Y. K. Yang, J. K. Wu & Gasang.

Herbs 50-80 cm tall. Roots slender. Stem erect, purple-red, 7-10 mm in diam. at base, hollow, glabrous; nodes inflated. Basal leaves 1-3; petiole purple-red, ca. as long as blade, subterete, glabrous or pilose near blade; leaf blade purple-red abaxially, dark green adaxially, broadly cordate or cordate, 13-20 × 12-19 cm, abaxially pubescent, adaxially glabrous, basal veins usually 5, base cordate, margin entire, apex acuminate or long acuminate, rarely obtuse. Stem leaves 1-3, smaller upward, broadly ovate to ovate-cordate; ocrea ca. 2 cm, glabrous or muricate, scarious when dry, clasping. Panicle usually 2-branched at middle, sparsely arranged, glabrous. Pedicel ca. 3 mm, slender, jointed below middle. Flowers nearly 10-fascicled. Tepals 6, purple-red, outer 3 smaller, broadly elliptic, ca. 1.8 × 1.3 mm; inner 3 orbicular or broadly ovate, 2-2.5 mm. Stamens shorter than perianth; filaments purple-red, ca. 2 mm; anthers black-purple. Ovary rhomboid-ellipsoid; style short; stigma large. Fruit oblong-ovoid or broadly ovoid, 7-8 × 6.5-7 mm; wings purple-red when fresh, narrow, with longitudinal veins near middle. Seeds brown, ovoid or narrowly ovoid. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

Slopes, forests; 2800-4000 m. S Gansu, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].