ABSTRACT
The Chinese were—and they still are—the world's leading ginseng users. A great deal of interest in ginseng was generated in the mid-nineteenth century in the Western world. Panax ginseng is a perennial herb indigenous to the mountainous forests of Eastern Asia, particularly Eastern Manchuria, North China, Korea, and the maritime area of Siberia. Three kinds of ginseng roots have been used in Chinese medicine: mountain or wild, transplanted, and cultivated ginseng. Ginseng is a very slow-growing plant. The root of ginseng is collected only at a certain age of the plant and at a certain season. After the ginseng root is dug in late September or October, the root has to be treated by one of the traditional methods to make commercially acceptable and easily preserved products. During the Sung dynasty, ginseng fell into seriously short supply, and the quality of ginseng and adulterated ginseng became quite a problem.
