ABSTRACT
The ginseng plant found in North America is commonly called American ginseng and is only slightly different from the one native to China. About 30 years after the discovery of ginseng in Canada, American ginseng plants were found in many parts of the northern American colonies. The American ginseng plant is a small, unassuming perennial herb, 10–20 inches high. It is of very slow growth, even under the most favorable conditions. Leaves are palmately arranged; two of them are smaller, the remainder are larger, egg-shaped in outline, with the broad end away from the stem, abruptly pointed and raw-toothed. American ginseng usually has a thick, spindle-shaped root, 2–3 inches long or more, and about one-half to one inch in thickness, often branched, the outside prominently marked with circles or winkles. Until 1870, American ginseng was first successfully cultivated by Abraham Whisman at a place then called Boones Path in Virginia.
