Introduction of Ren Shen:Ginseng or Radix Ginseng.
✵The article gives records of the herb Ginseng, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, its botanical source one plant species, ①.Panax ginseng C.A.Mey., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of this plant species, its wild mountain type, transplanted type, and cultivated garden type, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of this plant species, the features of the herb Ginseng, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
Radix Ginseng(Ginseng).
Pin Yin Name: Rén Shēn.
English Name: Ginseng, Ginseng Root.
Latin Name: Radix Ginseng.
Property and flavor: slightly warm in nature, tastes slightly bitter, sweet.
Brief introduction: The herb Radix Ginseng is the dried root of Panax ginseng C.A. Mey., used (1).to powerfully replenish Qi and to promote fluid production for the treatment of prostration, general weakness, diabetes mellitus, impotence or frigidity, heart failure and cardiogenic shock, (2).to tonify the spleen and lung for the treatment of anorexia, cough and shortness of breath, and (3).as a tranquilizer for treating cardiac palpitation and insomnia. The herb is commonly known as Radix Ginseng, Ginseng, Rén Shēn.
Botanical source: Common herbal classics defined the herb Panax Ginseng(Ren Shen) as the root of the plant species (1). Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. It is a plant species of the Panax L. genus, the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) of the Apiales order. This commonly used species and its different kinds are introduced:
(1).Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, perennial, the plant grows up to 60 cm. The main roots are hypertrophic, fleshy, cylindrical, and often divergent. They are commonly referred to as "spiritual bodies" or "cross bodies" by the upper two divergent members; those who do not divide or are commonly referred to as "stupid bodies" or "special bodies" in the lower bifurcation; It is long, with many small pods; there are scars on the rhizomes, and sometimes the roots take effect. Stems are upright, green, slender, smooth and glabrous. The impeller grows on the stem, the number varies according to the age of growth. When it is growing, it is 1 out of 3 compound leaves. The biennial is 1 out of 5 palmate compound leaves. The three-year-old is 2 out of 5 palmate compound leaves. The number of them is 3, and thereafter they increase year by year and finally increase to 6; the leaves are long-handled; the leaflets are ovate or obovate, the leaflets at the base of the compound leaves are small, 2~3 cm long and 1~1.5 cm wide; the upper leaflets are 4~15 cm long, 2.2~4 cm wide; apex is acuminate, base is cuneate, decurrent, margin is serrate, upright bristles along leaf veins below, glabrous below; petioles are up to 2.6 cm. The total peduncle is extracted from the middle of the petiole of the stem and is about 7~20 cm long. The terminal umbel inflorescence has more than a dozen or dozens of yellowish-green flowers, usually beginning to bloom in the fourth year; the flowers are pedicel, bisexual and male; green, 6-lobed; 6 petals, apex is cuspidate; 5 stamens; ovary is inferior, 2-celled, 2 styles, free in bisexual flowers, hollow in tubers in male flowers. Berry-like stone fruit, kidney-shaped, bright red at maturity, 1 seed per room. Seeds are white, flat round oval, flat on one side. Its flowering period is from June to July, fruiting period is from July to September.
Ecological Environment: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., grows in dense forest of mountains. Geographical distribution: This species is mainly distributed in China provinces mountains of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and northern Hebei. Liaoning and Jilin have extensive cultivation. The plant grows in the wild environment are called "Wild Ginseng, or Wild Mountain Ginseng"; the cultivated plant are called "Garden Ginseng". The plant which grows from the transplanting young wild ginseng into the farm fields, or transplanting cultivated young ginseng shrub into the wild and growing up, is called "Transplant Wild Ginseng". The Wild Mountain Ginseng, Garden Ginseng, and Transplant Wild Ginseng, are introduced:
(1.1).Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.(Wild Mountain Ginseng).
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C.A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, it grows in mountains and commonly known as "Wild Ginseng", or "Wild Mountain Ginseng", or "Ye Shan Shen", perennial plant; rhizomes (reticular heads) are short, upright or oblique, not thickened into chunks. Main root is hypertrophic, spindle or cylindrical. Stems above ground are solitary, 30~60 cm tall, with vertical stripes, glabrous, with persistent scales at base. Leaves are palmately compound, 3~6 tuberculous stems apically, fewer young leaves; petiole is 3-8 cm long, longitudinally glabrous, glabrous, stipules are absent at base; 3~5 leaf blades, young plants often 3, thin-filmed, central lobate is elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 8~12 cm long, 3~5 cm wide, outermost pair of lateral leaflets are ovate or ovate-ovate, 2~4 cm long, 1.5~3 cm wide, apex is long acuminate, base is broadly cuneate, decurrent, margin is serrated, teeth are thorny, scattered a few bristles above, bristles ca. 1 mm, glabrous below, lateral veins are 5~6 pairs, obviously on both sides, the veins are not obvious; the petiole is 0.5~2.5 cm long and the lateral ones are shorter. Umbrella is indistinct, ca. 1.5 cm in diameter, 30~50 flowers, dilute 5~6 flowered; pedicels usually are longer than leaves, 15~30 cm long, with vertical stripes; pedicels are filiform, 0.8~1.5 cm in length; flower is yellowish green; gills are glabrous, margin with 5 triangular teeth; 5 petals, ovate-triangulate; 5 stamens, filaments are short; ovary is 2-locular; 2 styles, free. The fruit is spherical, bright red, 4~5 mm long and 6~7 mm wide. Seeds are kidney-shaped, milky white.
Ecological Environment: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., grows in the deciduous broad-leaved forest or coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest several hundred meters above sea level. Geographical distribution: This species is mainly distributed at 40 to 45 degrees north latitude and 117.5 to 134 degrees east longitude, in China provinces eastern Liaoning, eastern Jilin, and eastern Heilongjiang. It is distributed in Jilin and Liaoning and also introduced and grows in Hebei (Lingwushan and Dushan mountains), Hubei, Guangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.
The Wild Ginseng is the ginseng growing in the wild mountains. It is a valuable Chinese medicinal material and has a lot of values. The Wild Ginseng is considered to have the best quality and the best medicinal effect because it has been growing for a long time. In the years of excavation, more and more reductions have disappeared in most parts of Jilin. Some are growing in or around the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve, grades according to the number of leaves.
The Wild Ginseng, also known as "Ren Shen", "Bang Chui (Battledore)", "Fairy Grass", "Di Jing (Earth Goblin)" and so on. There is also a legend about the origin of the name of the Di Jing (Earth Goblin): according to legend, during the years the emperor Sui Wendi of the Sui dynasty, someone in the Shangdang county heard somebody cries every night after they went back to home, but found nobody around. Going out a mile and found ginseng which foliage grows abnormal. The man dug into the soil five feet in depth, get ginseng, and it looks just like the human body, already has all four limbs, and the crying sound is stopped. Ever since then, it was called Di Jing (Earth Goblin).
There are many other folk legends about ginseng, one story tells: Once upon a time, an old man in the mountains had a son who often went out into the mountains alone. One day, the son came back and told that he had met a chubby child dressing a red belt in the mountains and play with him together. It is strange. The old man told his son that the child might be a ginseng, and he took his son a needle and put on a red thread, asked his son to put the needle in the pocket of the child, and he wouldn’t walk if he is a ginseng! When the son encountered the chubby child in the mountains again, he pinned the needle in his pocket, and the child really turned into a large ginseng. Therefore, once the people in mountain find ginseng, they must use the red thread prepared in advance to pin on the ginseng's stem, and ginseng can't run away.
The collection of wild ginseng is very laborious. People can only collect one wild ginseng in the mountains for a period of one or several months of hard work. It is said that there is a very beautiful bird in the deep mountains and old forests. It is most active in August. The bird likes to eat ginseng seeds and screams like a scholar. It will only say, “Wang Ganduo!” “Wang Ganduo!”, audible, where there is such a bird, there is ginseng. The wild ginseng grows naturally in the old remote, thickly forested mountains. Some of them have been growing for centuries and have not been cultivated artificially or chemically. The collection is very laborious and the medicinal value is extremely high. It is also a rare green precious treasure with high conservation value, and expensive.
Characters of herbs: Wild Mountain Ginseng: Wild Mountain Ginseng is also known as wild ginseng or Yě Shān Shēn. The main root is short and thick, which is as long as or shorter than the rhizome, has two main branches, which are shaped like a human body. There is a thin and deep horizontal ring pattern on the upper end. The rhizome is thin and long, generally 3~9 cm long, with a twisted upper part, commonly known as "wild goose-neck reed", reed bowl is dense, and the lower part is smooth and without reed bowl, commonly known as "round reed". The fibrous roots are sparse, about 1~2 times as long as the main roots, flexible and not easy to break, with obvious verrucous protrusions (pearl spots). The whole herb is yellowish-white, with fine skin, smooth. The herb has a strong aromatic fragrance, it tastes sweet and slightly bitter. Due to different processing, there are three kinds of commercial wild ginseng: dried fresh ginseng, sugared ginseng, and pinched-skin ginseng. Its characteristics are similar to those of the corresponding garden ginseng products except the full shape, the herb of better grade has large branches, thick enough liquid, fine lines, long reed, dense reed bowl, with round reed and pearl spots.
(1.2).Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.(Transplant Wild Ginseng).
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, it grows in mountains or farm fields and commonly known as "Transplant Wild Ginseng", or "Yi Shan Shen", the plant which grows from the transplanting young wild ginseng into the farm fields, or transplanting cultivated young ginseng shrub into the wild and growing up, are called "Transplant Wild Ginseng". The wild ginseng is a rare medicinal material produced in the virgin forest of Changbai Mountain. It mainly grows in hilly broad-leaved mixed forests with an altitude of 2,200~1,000 meters and a canopy density of 0.7~0.8. The distribution areas generally have wet-type temperate monsoon climate characteristics and are mostly growing in shade-sheltered areas where the east-west sun shines. The wild ginseng is the ginseng with best medicinal effect. It has a nourishing effect due to its sparse yield and enjoys a high reputation in the world.
The Transplant Wild Ginseng is a kind of wild ginseng. There are two types of it and known as "Mountain Transplant" or "Home Transplant": "Mountain Transplant" means a mountain farmer puts a mountain seedling of present wild ginseng, due to their small weight and age, are not suitable to be stocked, so they are transplanted to the undergrowth near the home to facilitate caretakers and natural growth; “Home Transplant” refers to the ginseng planted by the farmers, the seedlings are transplanted into the forest in the mountains, and they are not watered or fertilized, so that they can grow naturally in the wild.
Ecological Environment: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. (Transplant Wild Ginseng), grows in the forest of mountains.
The basic feature of the Transplant Wild Ginseng is that the burrowing leishen often becomes thin or thick, and it does not appear as a pile of reeds but turns to reeds. Lines of reeds are often found, most of which are bamboo reeds. The loose-vein looseness is not tight, and it is long and sparse; Most of them are swift, but some of them have long-term growth. They are sometimes called jujube kernels. Sometimes they appear to have thick and thin shapes. They are upturned and upward, and they have many overhangs. Sometimes the corpus callosum exceeds the body; More often than not, the legs are relatively lengthy, with 1~3 or more, the transplanting of new soil is large and the nutrition accumulation is mainly in the lower part of the main root, which makes the lower body expand rapidly, and the white and tender "big ass" remains unchanged., showing the yin and yang color under the black and white; cortex is slightly soaked and tender, rough, not smooth, there are sparsely tight horizontal stripes, ring lines are superficial, often a pattern, in the end, there is no tight fine lines; transplanted after the leg must be swollen with the top and bottom, the legs must be divided, the ginseng must be tender and short, more lower branches, the pearl point is sparse and small; the bottom of the pool ginseng is the longer the finer, thicker and thinner, upturned, lateral extension, coarse horizontal stripes, rough and wrinkled cortex, multiple burning whiskers, red rust, scars and other morbid states.
Characters of herbs: Transplant Wild Ginseng: The transplanted wild ginseng looks like wild ginseng in shape, but the lower part of the main root is often big and hypertrophic, with thick and shallow lines, often extending to the middle of the main root, and few pearl points in the fibrous root. Processed herbs are the same as wild ginseng roots.
(1.3).Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.(Garden Ginseng).
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, it grows in farm fields and cultivated artificially, and commonly known as "Garden Ginseng", or "Planted ginseng", or "Yuan Shen", the plant grows similarly as the wild mountain ginseng.
The head of the reed is thick and not bent, and the reed is sparse on the reed head. The main root is mostly cylindrical, with loose texture; horizontal lines are thick and shallow, discontinuous, and upper and lower parts. The legs are many and short, the ginseng must be many and short, staggered and scattered, the quality is more brittle, and the pearls are not obvious. There are common garden ginseng and ginseng. The former is short, thick, and has many legs. The latter has been cultivated for more than eight years and is characterized by long reeds, body length, and leg length.
Ecological Environment: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. (Garden Ginseng), is mainly cultivated at Baishan City, Tonghua City of Jilin Province, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning of China.
Growth characteristics: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. prefers a cold, humid climate, avoid strong light direct shining, strong cold resistance. Its requirements for soil are strict, should choose oil rich in organic matter, good permeability of sandy soil, humus loam for cultivation, avoid continuous cropping.
The appearance of the Garden Ginseng is beautiful, thick, and the roots are dense. It has some differences from the Wild Ginseng: 1. The garden ginseng root is short and the wild ginseng's head is relatively long; 2. The garden ginseng body is stout and opaque milky white, while the wild ginseng is fine; 3. The garden ginseng of the ginseng must be dense like a broom and brittle, while the wild ginseng sparse, long and tough.
Characters of herbs: Garden ginseng: The garden ginseng is also known as seedling ginseng. The main root is cylindrical, with a light yellow surface and intermittent transverse stripes on the upper part. The rhizome (reed head) is about 2~6 cm long and 0.5~1.6 cm in diameter, with sparse bowl-shaped stem marks (reed bowl) and one or several adventitious roots. There are 2~6 branch roots, many divergences at the end part, many thin and long whisker roots with tiny verrucous protrusions (pearl spots) on them.
Since the Tang dynasty, the artificial cultivation of ginseng already began in China. Cultivated garden ginseng has been cultivated in Hebei, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Hubei provinces except for a large amount of cultivation in the northeast. Under meticulous management, cultivated ginseng can be harvested in 6 years. Ginseng mostly grows between 40 and 45 degrees north latitude, with an average temperature of -23~5 °C (Celsius, or -9.4~41 degrees Fahrenheit) in January, an average temperature of 20~26 °C (Celsius, or 68~78.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in July, strong cold resistance, the low-temperature resistance of -40 °C (Celsius, or -40 degrees Fahrenheit), and the suitable growth temperature of 15~25 °C (Celsius, or 59~77 degrees Fahrenheit). The accumulated temperature is 2,000~3,000 °C, the frost-free period is 125~150 days, the snow is 20~44 cm, and the annual precipitation is 500~1,000 mm. The soil is well-drained, loose, fertile, brown forest soil with deep humus layer or brownish forest soil with a mountain pH (pH scale:acidity-basicity) value of 5.5~6.2. Grow in Pinus koraiensis mixed forest or deciduous broad-leaved forest, the canopy density is 0.7~0.8. Ginseng usually blooms in 3 years, results from 5 to 6 years, its flowering period is from May to June, and fruiting from June to September. It grows at area several hundred meters above sea level in deciduous broad-leaved forest or coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest.
Pharmacological actions: Ginseng has a bidirectional regulation effect on human function and metabolism, and this bidirectional regulation is mainly beneficial to the recovery and strengthening of body function. Such as regulating the central nervous system, affect the body's immune function, protect the cardiovascular system (Cardiotonic effect, reduce or increase blood pressure, anti-shock effect), the hematopoietic function of bone marrow protection and stimulation, effect on the endocrine system (protection of pituitary-adrenal cortical systems, avoid function failure, affect the genital gland and hormone secretion, affects the thyroid and islet, and other secretion system), influence the metabolism (carbohydrate metabolism and lipid metabolism, protein metabolism), anti-aging, adaptogen and anti-stress ability, etc.
Medicinal efficacy: Reinforce vital energy, restore normal pulse and consolidate depletion, consolidate depletion and promote the production of body fluid, replenish spleen and benefit lung, prompt body fluid production and nourish blood, calm the nerves (relieve uneasiness of mind and body tranquilization), benefit intelligence. It is indicated for body deficiency and collapse, Qi deficiency and collapse, feeble and impalpable pulse, faint pulse and cold extremities, asthenia and internal lesion caused by overexertion, physical deficiency and much perspiration, spontaneous perspiration and sudden collapse, deficiency and lean due to long illness, lassitude, dyspnea and cough due to lung deficiency, short breath due to lung deficiency, deficiency cough and asthma, Qi deficiency and body fluid deficiency thirst, endogenous heat and wasting thirst (internal heat and consumptive thirst), deficiency of Qi and blood, dizziness and cephalea (vertigo, headache), palpitate with fear and insomnia, insomnia and dreaminess (lose sleep, much dream), amnesia (poor memory, bad memory), asynodia (impotentia), cold uterus, kidney deficiency and asynodia, blood deficiency and sallow complexion, frequent urination, spleen deficiency and poor appetite, spleen deficiency and lassitude weak, anorexia (lack of appetite), vomiting, regurgitation and throw up undigested food, slipping diarrhea, diarrhea (loose bowels), metrorrhagia and metrostaxis (uterine bleeding), chronic infantile convulsion, chronic deficiency and not recover, and all syndromes due to deficiency of Qi blood and body fluids, etc.
Administration of Radix Ginseng (Rén Shēn):
Reference:
Administration Guide of Radix Ginseng (Rén Shēn)
TCM Books:
①.Internally:3~9 grams, decoct separately, add to take;or prepare to finely ground herb powder, swallow take,2 grams each time, twice daily; ②.Internally:water decoction, 0.5~3 qian (about 1.5~9 grams), big dosage up to 0.3~1 liang (about 9~30 grams);prepare an ointment, or prepare to pill, powder; ③.Internally:water decoction, 3~10 grams, big dosage could be 10~30 grams, better decoct separately and add to take;or prepare to ground herb powder,1~2 grams;or prepare an ointment;or infusing in wine;or prepare to pill, powder.
Contraindications,Precautions and Adverse Reactions:the herb Radix Ginseng should not be combined with Black False Hellebore, Faeces Togopteri, Chinese honey locust, black soya bean, Halbrine. Should not be prepared with ironware.
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1.Introduction of Ren Shen:Ginseng or Radix Ginseng.
✵The article gives records of the herb Ginseng, its English name, Latin name, property and flavor, its botanical source one plant species, ①.Panax ginseng C.A.Mey., with a detailed introduction to the botanical features of this plant species, its wild mountain type, transplanted type, and cultivated garden type, the growth characteristics, and ecological environment of this plant species, the features of the herb Ginseng, its pharmacological actions, medicinal efficacy, and administration guide.
Pin Yin Name: Rén Shēn.
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, perennial, the plant grows up to 60 cm. The main roots are hypertrophic, fleshy, cylindrical, and often divergent. They are commonly referred to as "spiritual bodies" or "cross bodies" by the upper two divergent members; those who do not divide or are commonly referred to as "stupid bodies" or "special bodies" in the lower bifurcation; It is long, with many small pods; there are scars on the rhizomes, and sometimes the roots take effect. Stems are upright, green, slender, smooth and glabrous. The impeller grows on the stem, the number varies according to the age of growth. When it is growing, it is 1 out of 3 compound leaves. The biennial is 1 out of 5 palmate compound leaves. The three-year-old is 2 out of 5 palmate compound leaves. The number of them is 3, and thereafter they increase year by year and finally increase to 6; the leaves are long-handled; the leaflets are ovate or obovate, the leaflets at the base of the compound leaves are small, 2~3 cm long and 1~1.5 cm wide; the upper leaflets are 4~15 cm long, 2.2~4 cm wide; apex is acuminate, base is cuneate, decurrent, margin is serrate, upright bristles along leaf veins below, glabrous below; petioles are up to 2.6 cm. The total peduncle is extracted from the middle of the petiole of the stem and is about 7~20 cm long. The terminal umbel inflorescence has more than a dozen or dozens of yellowish-green flowers, usually beginning to bloom in the fourth year; the flowers are pedicel, bisexual and male; green, 6-lobed; 6 petals, apex is cuspidate; 5 stamens; ovary is inferior, 2-celled, 2 styles, free in bisexual flowers, hollow in tubers in male flowers. Berry-like stone fruit, kidney-shaped, bright red at maturity, 1 seed per room. Seeds are white, flat round oval, flat on one side. Its flowering period is from June to July, fruiting period is from July to September.
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C.A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, it grows in mountains and commonly known as "Wild Ginseng", or "Wild Mountain Ginseng", or "Ye Shan Shen", perennial plant; rhizomes (reticular heads) are short, upright or oblique, not thickened into chunks. Main root is hypertrophic, spindle or cylindrical. Stems above ground are solitary, 30~60 cm tall, with vertical stripes, glabrous, with persistent scales at base. Leaves are palmately compound, 3~6 tuberculous stems apically, fewer young leaves; petiole is 3-8 cm long, longitudinally glabrous, glabrous, stipules are absent at base; 3~5 leaf blades, young plants often 3, thin-filmed, central lobate is elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 8~12 cm long, 3~5 cm wide, outermost pair of lateral leaflets are ovate or ovate-ovate, 2~4 cm long, 1.5~3 cm wide, apex is long acuminate, base is broadly cuneate, decurrent, margin is serrated, teeth are thorny, scattered a few bristles above, bristles ca. 1 mm, glabrous below, lateral veins are 5~6 pairs, obviously on both sides, the veins are not obvious; the petiole is 0.5~2.5 cm long and the lateral ones are shorter. Umbrella is indistinct, ca. 1.5 cm in diameter, 30~50 flowers, dilute 5~6 flowered; pedicels usually are longer than leaves, 15~30 cm long, with vertical stripes; pedicels are filiform, 0.8~1.5 cm in length; flower is yellowish green; gills are glabrous, margin with 5 triangular teeth; 5 petals, ovate-triangulate; 5 stamens, filaments are short; ovary is 2-locular; 2 styles, free. The fruit is spherical, bright red, 4~5 mm long and 6~7 mm wide. Seeds are kidney-shaped, milky white.
Ecological Environment: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., grows in the deciduous broad-leaved forest or coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest several hundred meters above sea level. Geographical distribution: This species is mainly distributed at 40 to 45 degrees north latitude and 117.5 to 134 degrees east longitude, in China provinces eastern Liaoning, eastern Jilin, and eastern Heilongjiang. It is distributed in Jilin and Liaoning and also introduced and grows in Hebei (Lingwushan and Dushan mountains), Hubei, Guangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.
The Wild Ginseng, also known as "Ren Shen", "Bang Chui (Battledore)", "Fairy Grass", "Di Jing (Earth Goblin)" and so on. There is also a legend about the origin of the name of the Di Jing (Earth Goblin): according to legend, during the years the emperor Sui Wendi of the Sui dynasty, someone in the Shangdang county heard somebody cries every night after they went back to home, but found nobody around. Going out a mile and found ginseng which foliage grows abnormal. The man dug into the soil five feet in depth, get ginseng, and it looks just like the human body, already has all four limbs, and the crying sound is stopped. Ever since then, it was called Di Jing (Earth Goblin).
There are many other folk legends about ginseng, one story tells: Once upon a time, an old man in the mountains had a son who often went out into the mountains alone. One day, the son came back and told that he had met a chubby child dressing a red belt in the mountains and play with him together. It is strange. The old man told his son that the child might be a ginseng, and he took his son a needle and put on a red thread, asked his son to put the needle in the pocket of the child, and he wouldn’t walk if he is a ginseng! When the son encountered the chubby child in the mountains again, he pinned the needle in his pocket, and the child really turned into a large ginseng. Therefore, once the people in mountain find ginseng, they must use the red thread prepared in advance to pin on the ginseng's stem, and ginseng can't run away.
The collection of wild ginseng is very laborious. People can only collect one wild ginseng in the mountains for a period of one or several months of hard work. It is said that there is a very beautiful bird in the deep mountains and old forests. It is most active in August. The bird likes to eat ginseng seeds and screams like a scholar. It will only say, “Wang Ganduo!” “Wang Ganduo!”, audible, where there is such a bird, there is ginseng. The wild ginseng grows naturally in the old remote, thickly forested mountains. Some of them have been growing for centuries and have not been cultivated artificially or chemically. The collection is very laborious and the medicinal value is extremely high. It is also a rare green precious treasure with high conservation value, and expensive.
Characters of herbs: Wild Mountain Ginseng: Wild Mountain Ginseng is also known as wild ginseng or Yě Shān Shēn. The main root is short and thick, which is as long as or shorter than the rhizome, has two main branches, which are shaped like a human body. There is a thin and deep horizontal ring pattern on the upper end. The rhizome is thin and long, generally 3~9 cm long, with a twisted upper part, commonly known as "wild goose-neck reed", reed bowl is dense, and the lower part is smooth and without reed bowl, commonly known as "round reed". The fibrous roots are sparse, about 1~2 times as long as the main roots, flexible and not easy to break, with obvious verrucous protrusions (pearl spots). The whole herb is yellowish-white, with fine skin, smooth. The herb has a strong aromatic fragrance, it tastes sweet and slightly bitter. Due to different processing, there are three kinds of commercial wild ginseng: dried fresh ginseng, sugared ginseng, and pinched-skin ginseng. Its characteristics are similar to those of the corresponding garden ginseng products except the full shape, the herb of better grade has large branches, thick enough liquid, fine lines, long reed, dense reed bowl, with round reed and pearl spots.
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, it grows in mountains or farm fields and commonly known as "Transplant Wild Ginseng", or "Yi Shan Shen", the plant which grows from the transplanting young wild ginseng into the farm fields, or transplanting cultivated young ginseng shrub into the wild and growing up, are called "Transplant Wild Ginseng". The wild ginseng is a rare medicinal material produced in the virgin forest of Changbai Mountain. It mainly grows in hilly broad-leaved mixed forests with an altitude of 2,200~1,000 meters and a canopy density of 0.7~0.8. The distribution areas generally have wet-type temperate monsoon climate characteristics and are mostly growing in shade-sheltered areas where the east-west sun shines. The wild ginseng is the ginseng with best medicinal effect. It has a nourishing effect due to its sparse yield and enjoys a high reputation in the world.
The Transplant Wild Ginseng is a kind of wild ginseng. There are two types of it and known as "Mountain Transplant" or "Home Transplant": "Mountain Transplant" means a mountain farmer puts a mountain seedling of present wild ginseng, due to their small weight and age, are not suitable to be stocked, so they are transplanted to the undergrowth near the home to facilitate caretakers and natural growth; “Home Transplant” refers to the ginseng planted by the farmers, the seedlings are transplanted into the forest in the mountains, and they are not watered or fertilized, so that they can grow naturally in the wild.
Ecological Environment: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. (Transplant Wild Ginseng), grows in the forest of mountains.
The basic feature of the Transplant Wild Ginseng is that the burrowing leishen often becomes thin or thick, and it does not appear as a pile of reeds but turns to reeds. Lines of reeds are often found, most of which are bamboo reeds. The loose-vein looseness is not tight, and it is long and sparse; Most of them are swift, but some of them have long-term growth. They are sometimes called jujube kernels. Sometimes they appear to have thick and thin shapes. They are upturned and upward, and they have many overhangs. Sometimes the corpus callosum exceeds the body; More often than not, the legs are relatively lengthy, with 1~3 or more, the transplanting of new soil is large and the nutrition accumulation is mainly in the lower part of the main root, which makes the lower body expand rapidly, and the white and tender "big ass" remains unchanged., showing the yin and yang color under the black and white; cortex is slightly soaked and tender, rough, not smooth, there are sparsely tight horizontal stripes, ring lines are superficial, often a pattern, in the end, there is no tight fine lines; transplanted after the leg must be swollen with the top and bottom, the legs must be divided, the ginseng must be tender and short, more lower branches, the pearl point is sparse and small; the bottom of the pool ginseng is the longer the finer, thicker and thinner, upturned, lateral extension, coarse horizontal stripes, rough and wrinkled cortex, multiple burning whiskers, red rust, scars and other morbid states.
Characters of herbs: Transplant Wild Ginseng: The transplanted wild ginseng looks like wild ginseng in shape, but the lower part of the main root is often big and hypertrophic, with thick and shallow lines, often extending to the middle of the main root, and few pearl points in the fibrous root. Processed herbs are the same as wild ginseng roots.
Botanical description: The Panax ginseng C. A. Mey., is a plant of the Araliaceae family (the ginseng family) and Panax L. genus, it grows in farm fields and cultivated artificially, and commonly known as "Garden Ginseng", or "Planted ginseng", or "Yuan Shen", the plant grows similarly as the wild mountain ginseng.
The head of the reed is thick and not bent, and the reed is sparse on the reed head. The main root is mostly cylindrical, with loose texture; horizontal lines are thick and shallow, discontinuous, and upper and lower parts. The legs are many and short, the ginseng must be many and short, staggered and scattered, the quality is more brittle, and the pearls are not obvious. There are common garden ginseng and ginseng. The former is short, thick, and has many legs. The latter has been cultivated for more than eight years and is characterized by long reeds, body length, and leg length.
The appearance of the Garden Ginseng is beautiful, thick, and the roots are dense. It has some differences from the Wild Ginseng: 1. The garden ginseng root is short and the wild ginseng's head is relatively long; 2. The garden ginseng body is stout and opaque milky white, while the wild ginseng is fine; 3. The garden ginseng of the ginseng must be dense like a broom and brittle, while the wild ginseng sparse, long and tough.
Since the Tang dynasty, the artificial cultivation of ginseng already began in China. Cultivated garden ginseng has been cultivated in Hebei, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Hubei provinces except for a large amount of cultivation in the northeast. Under meticulous management, cultivated ginseng can be harvested in 6 years. Ginseng mostly grows between 40 and 45 degrees north latitude, with an average temperature of -23~5 °C (Celsius, or -9.4~41 degrees Fahrenheit) in January, an average temperature of 20~26 °C (Celsius, or 68~78.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in July, strong cold resistance, the low-temperature resistance of -40 °C (Celsius, or -40 degrees Fahrenheit), and the suitable growth temperature of 15~25 °C (Celsius, or 59~77 degrees Fahrenheit). The accumulated temperature is 2,000~3,000 °C, the frost-free period is 125~150 days, the snow is 20~44 cm, and the annual precipitation is 500~1,000 mm. The soil is well-drained, loose, fertile, brown forest soil with deep humus layer or brownish forest soil with a mountain pH (pH scale:acidity-basicity) value of 5.5~6.2. Grow in Pinus koraiensis mixed forest or deciduous broad-leaved forest, the canopy density is 0.7~0.8. Ginseng usually blooms in 3 years, results from 5 to 6 years, its flowering period is from May to June, and fruiting from June to September. It grows at area several hundred meters above sea level in deciduous broad-leaved forest or coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest.
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