ABSTRACT
The traditional interest in plants as sources of “natural” medicines prompted the grouping of closely related species under common names. Thus the name “ginseng” is loosely applied to a range of plants from the Araliaceous genus Panax although some other nonrelated “ginseng” species are also encountered in commerce e.g. Eleutherococcus senticosus Maxim, family Araliaceae (Siberian ginseng), Pfaffia paniculata Martius, family Amaranthaceae (Brazilian ginseng) and Rumex hymenosepalus Torrey, family Polygonaceae (Wild red desert ginseng or American wild red ginseng).
