PANAX.—GINSENG. History and Description

Ginseng is a native of most of the middle and northern states, and extends on the mountains far south, growing in rich soil and in shaded situations, and flowering in July. C. S. Rafinesque (Med. Flora of the U. S., Vol. II, 1830, p. 53) states that the Jesuits, knowing the plant from their sojourns in Tartary, found it afterward, toward 1718, in Canada, and instituted the trade in this root with China. The root is somewhat fusiform, 2 or 3 inches in length, and about ½ an inch in diameter, and sends off a few delicate fibers. When dried, it consists of a soft, yellowish-white, corrugated bark, inclosing a central, woody substance. It has a faint smell, and its taste is sweetish, somewhat bitter, mucilaginous, and feebly aromatic. Water or alcohol takes up its properties. Large quantities of it are now gathered and sent to China, where it commands an enormous price, as the Chinese ascribe wonderful medicinal virtues to it. The American drug is cheapest (about $1.86 per pound), next ranks Corea ginseng ($16.50 per pound), and highest in price is the genuine Chinese ginseng. The latter is seldom found in the stores, and the finest qualities command the price of from $60 to $100 for a weight of about 580 grains. In Corea, the cultivation and trade in ginseng is a government monopoly (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 597; 1897, p. 551, and 1898, p. 251). Ginseng is also grown in Japan, but is considered inferior to Corea ginseng. The genuine Chinese ginseng is the root of Aralia Ginseng, A. Meyer (Panax Ginseng, Nees), an east Asia plant. Altogether, 5 commercial grades of ginseng are distinguished in China. It is often adulterated by mixing it with the root of some species of Convolvulus and other roots. (On the cultivation of ginseng in America, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 411.) Ginseng is becoming very scarce and, unless a method of cultivation becomes practical, bids fair to be exterminated. The price now is from $4.00 to $7.50 per pound and advancing.