Ginseng

ginseng, (genus Panax), Chinese (Wade-Giles romanization) jen sheng or (Pinyin) ren sheng (“root of heaven”), genus of 12 species of medicinal herbs of the family Araliaceae. The root of Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng), native to Manchuria and Korea, has long been used as a drug and is made into a stimulating tea in China, Korea, and Japan. American ginseng (P. quinquefolius), native from Quebec and Manitoba southward to the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, is also used in traditional medicine. The majority of the cultivated roots of American ginseng are dried and exported to Hong Kong, and from there the spice is distributed to Southeast Asia.