[citation needed] The Syrian rhubarb is a partially commercial vegetable collected from wild patches in Eastern and Southern Anatolia, Northern Iraq and partly Northwestern Iran in early spring.

[6] Agnia Losina-Losinskaja considered it very similar in leaves and flowers to R. maximowiczii from further north in Central Asia, but to be distinguished from it by its much rougher stem, much longer leaf petioles and broader inflorescence.

Linnaeus referred to five earlier authors who had described the plant: Johann Jacob Dillenius, Jacob Breyne (who calls it a Lapathum, known as Ribes arabicum), Richard Pococke[10] (who published in 1745 a description of his travels in the Near East and who brought seeds to England from Lebanon[11]), Leonhard Rauwolf and Gaspard Bauhin.

[10] In 1936 Losina-Losinskaja, in Komarov's Flora SSSR, classifies this species in section Ribesiformia, in which she also places R. maximowiczii, R. fedtschenkoi, R. cordatum, R. hissaricum and R. macrocarpum (and R. lobatum and R. plicatum, which are both now seen as synonyms of R.

[11] The specific epithet ribes is thus derived via Serapion from the Arabic word rībās (ريباس), referring to the Syrian rhubarb.

[5] It is found in eastern Turkey on dry mountain slopes at 1600-2600m elevation in association with the plants Prangos ferulacea and Cousinia sivasica with which it forms the dominant flora such ecosystems.

[6] Rheum ribes is the main food plant of a tiny hairstreak butterfly, Callophrys mystaphia, of which the Turkish name is ışgınzümrütü, the 'rhubarb emerald', in Adiyaman, Hakkâri, Iğdır, Kahramanmaraş, Kars, Siirt and Van provinces in southeastern and eastern Turkey.

[22] The edible part of the plant is the flowering stem, which is eaten raw or cooked (ekşili ışgın[27] and ışkınlı yumurta [lit.

Syrian rhubarb root (Rhizoma Rhei ribi) is used traditionally to treat diabetes, hemorrhoids, ulcers, and diarrhea.

[30] Traditional herbal medicine stem and root dry plant for the treatment of anemia, anorexia, weakness, anxiety, depression and diabetes.

[32] In Israel it is an extremely rare plant found at two sites in the mountains of the Golan Heights, but it is not protected by law.