American ginseng, (Panax quinquefolius)
We only have a few wild Ginseng plants at the PGT so I’ve been out planting seeds. Ginseng used to be common but it is so valuable as herbal medicine that it was over harvested. The plant is now rare in most of North America.
I took the picture of the ginseng seeds shown above here at the PGT on August 19th, 2006. And no, I won’t tell you where the plants are!
This brings back memories. I once was a photographer on a Southern Illinois University Museum project on local herb-gatherers and traditional healers. One fellow in southern Illinois harvested ginseng and kept a portion of the seed to plant in plots in his yard. When the seedlings were ready, he went back into the woods are planted them widely. As I recall, he said he thought he planted ten for every one he harvested, but it’s been a while ago. This was back in the ’80′s and ginseng was getting scarce even then in the Shawnee National Forest.