Panax ginseng Seeds | China Chang Bai Mountain Plant
LATIN NAME: Panax ginseng
COMMON NAME: Asian Ginseng
Plant Profile
Asian ginseng is a slow herbaceous perennial, 30-60 cm, with a single stem bearing a whorl of five-fingered leaves and a small umbel of greenish flowers, followed by a cluster of red berries. The root is thick, pale and forked, and it is lifted after five or six years.
The plant grows in deep deciduous forest, in leaf litter that stays moist but never wet, and it is one of the most shade-tolerant crops in cultivation. In the garden it is a curiosity for a woodland bed; commercially it is grown under shade cloth in long narrow beds.
Panax ginseng comes from the forests of north-eastern China and Korea, and it has been cultivated for centuries. Wild root is now extremely rare, and the difference between wild and cultivated material is one of the reasons prices vary so widely.
Science & Biotechnology
The seed has a double dormancy: the embryo is immature at shedding and needs a warm period to develop, followed by a cold period to break dormancy. That is why ginseng seed sown in autumn does not germinate until the second spring, and why the seed is usually stratified before sale.
The root’s ginsenosides are the compounds of interest, and their profile changes with age: a six-year root has a different ratio from a three-year one, which is one reason growers wait. The root also accumulates starch, and the dried slice is judged by colour, hardness and the pattern of the annual rings.
Ginseng is susceptible to a range of soil-borne diseases, and it is grown on new ground or on ground that has not grown it for decades. That is why ginseng land is valuable and why the crop is rotated over long cycles.
Uses & Benefits
The root is used as a tonic in Chinese and Korean medicine, and it is taken as a decoction, a powder or a chew. It is also used in cosmetics and in energy products.
In the garden the plant is grown as a shade curiosity and as a seed crop, and the red berries are ornamental. Commercially the root is one of the most valuable medicinal crops in the world, and the seed trade is significant in its own right. It is not a culinary plant. The dried root is also sliced and chewed, a daily habit for many people in Korea.
Growing from Seed
Stratify the seed warm for four months, then cold for four months, before sowing 1 cm deep in a shaded frame. Germination is slow and uneven, and a proportion of seed may not come up until the second year.
Plant out in deep shade under a canopy or shade cloth, in loose, humus-rich soil with sharp drainage. Space at 20 cm, mulch with leaf mould, and water regularly without soaking the bed. The roots are lifted after five or six years, in autumn, and dried slowly. Never plant ginseng where it has grown before. A mulch of leaf mould keeps the roots cool and holds moisture through summer.
Our Take
A crop for patient growers with a shaded bed and a decade to spare, and a seed that rewards proper stratification.
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