Ginseng :: Botany

ginsengGinseng has extensive been recognized as an herb possessing great value. The rootage written record of the use of ginseng can be tack in a Chinese Herbal dated in the beginning(a) ascorbic acid B.C. This Chinese Herbal, Shen-nung pen tsao ching, was surely preceded by a long verbal history of ginseng for in ancient China, ginseng was always held in the highest esteem as a powerful do drugs (5). fib shows that early Chinese emperors placed great value in ginseng. azoic emperors proclaimed its roots as having many uses, primarily as a tonic or stimulant for both physical and mental disorders (9). In addition, it was used for increasing fertility and sexuality, and most importantly for strengthening the body. In fact, ginseng was so esteemed as a botanical drug that it was an important trade commodity, at times serving as defrayal for ransom and as payments of tribute to the Chinese government (3). As the motivation for ginseng increased, cultivation of the plant was initiated to offset the dwindling supply of kooky ginseng. The earliest plantations were in southeastern Manchuria and what is present day North Korea (5). Missionaries in China during the early 1700s became aw atomic number 18 of ginseng and subsequently their knowledge of its commercial-grade value spread to eastern North America. The export of wild ginseng root from America to the Orient began in the early 1700s. In 1773 the sloop Hingham sailed from capital of Massachusetts to China with 55 tons of ginseng on board. The first commitment of ginseng to China after the American Revolution is reported to assimilate been made by John Jacob Astor from New York in 1782. The root from that shipment was said to have been sold for three dollars a pound. As in Asia, wild American ginseng became scarce. Its cultivation began in the 19th Century with much of the plant being grown in Wisconsin and Ohio. It has been reported that well 21,000 tons of American ginseng has been exported bet ween 1821 and 1983 (1). Ginseng is the common send for of two species of Panax of the family Araliaceae. Panax ginseng is the Asian species and Panax quinquefolius is the American species. Harding (1972) describes four varieties of P. ginseng and three varieties of P. quinquefolius (4). Shorter forms of the common name ginseng, sang and seng, are used in the United States. Other common names accommodate red-berry and five fingers. Ginseng is a perennial herb 60-80 cm tall.