Rhubarb is actually a very useful food. It is a good source of Emodin, which has gentle laxative properties. IMHO, it's better to eat foods that gently facilitate bowel movements than than to rely on laxatives.

I've been growing rhubarb for several years now. It comes back by itself every spring, and can be frozen for off-season use. The rabbits and gophers won't eat it, because the leaves are rather toxic to us animals (the stalks are perfectly edible, either cooked or raw). All I have to do is make sure my plants get adequate water.

This spring I bought three more bare rhubarb roots when they first appeared at the garden store. Last spring I bought bare root rhubarb late in the spring, when they were half-off, but they never grew.

The instructions say to not harvest any stalks the first year, so the plant can put energy into its root. When I bought my first plant it was already a year or two old. The garden center guy said to cut the bottom out of the pot it came in and put that over the plant, so the stalks would have to 'stretch' to reach sunlight.

Here's a random page about forcing, as this bbc article mentions: http://rhubarbinfo.com/forcing

My blog post about Rhubarb as a 'functional food': https://radialappliance.teslabox.com/2017/06/pie-plant-rhuba...

I think Rhubarb roots can be split when they get big enough, sort of like bulbs, but I haven't gotten to that point yet.