the plant and corresponded with another Jesuit priest, Joseph
Lafitau, who was living with the Iroquois Indians, near Mon-
Nutrigenomics & Nutritional Therapeutics
treal, Canada. Lafitau concluded that he should be able to find Symposium
the same plant, since the climate in Canada was comparable
to Manchuria. In 1716, Lafitau discovered a similar plant, May 8, 2009
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). Exporting ginseng to
China became big business. This led to an over abundance of
8:00 AM until 12:30 PM
collecting ginseng from the wild and the plant was no longer
plentiful. The early 1900s saw stricter North American laws
featuring talks given by
passed, making it harder to pick from the wild leading the way 5 Professors from
to commercial ginseng growers.
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Research indicates that ginseng
See page 14 for details
an herb for the ages...
is useful medicinally to
increase energy,
stimulate immune function,
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improve the ability to cope with stress,
enhance concentration, and to
help lower blood glucose levels in diabetics.
Ginseng is a difficult crop to grow, prone to pests and
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disease, especially fungi. The plant is grown from seed, which
is stratified (natural storage) from berries, picked the previous
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year. The seeds are than planted in the fall. They are covered
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with a mulch or straw during the winter, before they germinate
the following spring. Young plants have only one or two leaves,

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and three to six leaves after 3 or 4 years growth. The same length
of time (3 or 4 years) is how long it takes for greenish-white
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flowers to appear in summer. The flowers develop bright red
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berries in autumn, with two or three seeds inside.
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The slow-growing herbaceous perennial needs well
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drained, clay based, loamy soils that contain organic matter.
The beds should be heavily mulched, although the plant does

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not require much fertilization, as it is slow growing. Ginseng

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is a low light requirement plant, doing best in deep shady for-
ests, damp woodlands and northern slopes. The root is har-
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vested in the fall, but takes at least 5 years to mature as active XXX[BZUPPOHSFFOTCPSPD PN
constituents become more concentrated.
Asian ginseng is native to the mountainous forests of east-
ern Asia, but is cultivated in China, Korea, Japan and Russia,
and reaches a height of about 2 or 3 feet. American ginseng
reaches a height of about a foot, and is cultivated in the eastern
United States and Canada.
©2009 Joe Smulevitz, C.H., M.H. Joe Smulevitz is a Chartered
Herbalist, a Master Herbalist, a nutritional researcher, and au-
thor of numerous health articles. He can be reached at herbal-
istjoe@sympatico.ca
MAY 2009
31
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