GINSENG**: A genus of the dioecia order, belonging to the polygamia class of plants. There are five species of this plant. 1. Quinquefolium. 2. Trifolium. 3. Fruticulum. 4. Arborea. 5. Spinosa.
The first and second are natives of North America. The quinquefolium is generally believed to be the same with the Tartarian ginseng; the figures and descriptions of that plant which have been sent to Europe by the missionaries agreeing perfectly with the American plant. This hath a jointed, fleshy, and taper root, as large as a man's finger, frequently divided into two smaller fibres downwards. The stalk rises near a foot and an half high, and is naked at the top, where it generally divides into three smaller foot-stalks, each sustaining a leaf composed of five spear-shaped lobes, sawed on their edges: they are of a pale green, and a little hairy. The flowers grow on a slender foot-stalk, just at the division of the foot-stalks which sustain the leaves, and are formed into a small umbel at the top: they are of an herbaceous yellow colour, composed of small yellow petals, which are recurved. Woodville says they are white; that they are produced in a roundish terminal umbel, and are hermaphrodite or male on separate plants. The former (see the Plate) stand in close simple umbels: the involucre consists of several small, tapering, pointed, permanent leaves; the proper calyx is tubular, and divided at the rim into five small teeth: the corolla consists of five petals, which are small, oval, equal, and reflexed: the filaments are five, short, and furnished with simple anthers: the germens is roundish, placed below the corolla, and supports two short erect styles, crowned by simple stigmas: the fruit is an umbilicated two-celled berry, each containing a single irregularly heart-shaped seed. The flowers appear in the beginning of June; and are succeeded by compressed, heart-shaped berries, which are first green, but afterwards turn red; inclosing two hard, compressed, heart-shaped seeds, which ripen in the beginning of August. The second sort grows naturally in the same countries; but Mr Miller never saw more than one plant, which was sent to him from Maryland, and did not live beyond the first year; being planted in a dry soil, in a very dry season. The stalk was single, and did not rise more than five inches in height, dividing into three foot stalks, each sustaining a trifoliate leaf, whose lobes were longer, narrower, and deeper indented on their edges, than the former.
Vol. XIII. Part II.
The flower-stalk rose from the divisions of the foot-stalk of the leaves; but before the flowers opened, the plant decayed.
Ginseng was formerly supposed to grow only in Chinese Tartary, affecting mountainous situations, shaded by close woods; but it has now been long known that this plant is also a native of North America, whence M. Sarrafin transmitted specimens of it to Paris in the year 1794 (a); and the ginseng since discovered in Canada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, by Lafitteau, Kalm, Bartram, and others, has been found to correspond exactly with the Tartarian species; and its roots are now regularly purchased by the Chinese, who consider them to be the same as those of eastern growth, which are known to undergo a certain preparation, whereby they assume an appearance somewhat different. For it is said, that in China the roots are washed and soaked in a decoction of rice or millet-feed, and afterwards exposed to the steam of the liquor, by which they acquire a greater firmness and clearness than in their natural state (b). The plant was first introduced into England in 1740 by that industrious naturalist Peter Collinson. They thrive in those places where it hath a light soil and shady situation, and will produce flowers and seeds; but the latter, though in appearance ripe and perfect, will not produce any new plants, as Mr Miller says he has repeatedly made the experiment, and waited for them three years without disturbing the ground. There are many good specimens in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew.
The dried root of ginseng, as imported here, is scarcely the thickness of the little finger, about three or four inches long, frequently forked, transversely wrinkled, of a horny texture, and both internally and externally of a yellowish white colour. On the top are commonly one or more little knots, which are the remains of the stalks of the preceding years, and from the number of which the age of the root is judged of.
"To the taste it discovers a mucilaginous sweetness, approaching to that of liquorice, accompanied with some degree of bitterness, and a slight aromatic warmth, with little or no smell. It is far sweeter, and of a more grateful smell, than the roots of fennel, to which it has by some been supposed similar; and differs likewise remarkably from those roots in the nature and pharmaceutic properties of its active principles, the sweet matter of the ginseng being preserved entire in the watery as well as the spirituous extract, whereas that of fennel roots is destroyed or dissipated in the infusion of the watery tincture. The slight aromatic impregnation of the ginseng is likewise in good measure retained in the watery extract, and perfectly in the spirituous."
Properties. The Chinese ascribe extraordinary virtues to the root of ginseng; and have long considered it as a sovereign remedy in almost all diseases to which they are liable, having no confidence in any medicine unless in combination with it. It is observed by Jartoux,
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(a) Sarrafin was correspondent of the Royal Academy of Sciences, in the history of which his account was published in 1718.
(b) The Chinese value these roots in some measure according to their figure, esteeming those very highly which are regularly forked, or have a fancied resemblance to the human form. toux, that the most eminent physicians in China have written volumes on the medicinal powers of this plant; asserting, that it gives immediate relief in extreme fatigue either of body or mind; that it dissolves pituitous humours, and renders respiration easy; strengthens the stomach; promotes appetite; stops vomitings; removes hysterical, hypochondriacal, and all nervous affections; and gives a vigorous tone of body even in extreme old age. These, and many other effects of this root equally improbable and extravagant, are related by various authors; and Jartoux was so much biased by this eastern prejudice in favour of ginseng, that he seems to have given them full credit, and confirms them in some measure from his own experience. He says, "Nobody can imagine that the Chinese and Tartars would set so high a value upon this root, if it did not constantly produce a good effect."—“I observed the state of my pulse, and then took half of a root raw: in an hour after I found my pulse much fuller and quicker; I had an appetite, and found myself much more vigorous, and could bear labour much better and easier than before. But I did not rely on this trial alone, imagining that this alteration might proceed from the rest we had that day: but four days after, finding myself so fatigued and weary that I could scarcely sit on horseback, a Mandarin who was in company with us perceiving it, gave me one of these roots: I took half of it immediately, and an hour after I was not the least sensible of any weariness. I have often made use of it since, and always with the same success. I have observed also, that the green leaves, and especially the fibrous parts of them, chewed, would produce nearly the same effect." We know, however, of no proofs of the efficacy of ginseng in Europe; and from its sensible qualities we judge it to possess very little power as a medicine. Dr Cullen says, "We are told that the Chinese consider ginseng as a powerful aphrodisiac; but I have long neglected the authority of popular opinions, and this is one instance that has confirmed my judgment. I have known a gentleman, a little advanced in life, who chewed a quantity of this root every day for several years, but who acknowledged he never found his faculties in this way improved by it."
A dram of the ginseng root may be sliced and boiled in a quarter of a pint of water to about two ounces; then a little sugar being added, it may be drank as soon as it is cool enough. The dose must be repeated morning and evening; but the second dose may be prepared from the same portion of root which was used at first, for it may always be twice boiled.