Your single rhubarb plant, given the right conditions, will make plenty of rhubarb.

I've never heard of gendered rhubarb plants, but I have heard of people who will say things in public just to confound other people.

The color of the stalk depends on the variety of rhubarb, and to a lesser degree, exposure to sun and perhaps soil composition.

Rhubarb flower stalks do not look like bamboo shoots.

Adding to a nine year old discussion here, but I allowed my rhubarb plants to flower (as I care little for eating it) and when I cut the stalks, the insides were hollow just like bamboo shoots. Also, contrary to everything I've read, the plants are thriving despite being allowed to flower and go to seed. I've wondered about the gender issue too as the two plants I have, bought at the same time, are different colors, have different shaped leaves, and made different colored seeds. I guess they are just different varieties.

I started a new garden on virgin soil about five years ago. Rhubarb was on the menu. But that plant flowers every spring and I get nothing edible from it. Or do I? This year I bought a package of crowns. I planted three. One is huge. The other two not so much. Still just crowns under the soil. So there is definitely something about male and female rhubarb plants. but it still spears to be a total mystery in 2016.

There is no mystery. Rhubarb does not have separate male and female plants. The flowers are hermaphrodite.

All rhubarb plants have the potential to flower. Some plants have a tendency to throw up flowering stems more than others and that can be influenced by cultivar and growing conditions. Stress such as drought or heat can cause Rhubarb to flower.

There are many cultivars of rhubarb and the colour and habit are variable.

Laura: snap the flower stems off as soon as they form. And even if they do send up flower stalks you should get plenty of rhubarb from a 5 year old plant! Most recipies I see only take a cup of rhubarb. Unless you are making jam, which could potantially need more, but most baked goods dont' need much.

The land on which I spent time as a child, and now have inherited, used to be a rhubarb farm. My parents became first time land owners 65 years ago and my father built the house. We have always had rhubarb plants growing.

Two plants grow far more stalks than anyone can handle so I set up a table at the bottom of my driveway and set them out for free. People walking/jogging by, grab one for the sour bite. Other take a few stalks. Occasionally, I get a slice of pie left at my door.

Never thought of a male and female plant. I traded plants with a distant neighbor. One plant grows taller than the other. One is more red than the other. I have never known any difference in flavor.

Since they they divide easily I wonder why anyone would need to be interested in gender?