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Return To Ginseng Article Archive   Are There any Wild Ginseng Left? By Jamie Huang Ginseng is the dried root of one of several species of the Araliaceae family of herbs. The most commonly used type is Asian ginseng, often sold as Panax, Chinese, or Korean ginseng. Ginseng has been a major medicinal herb in Asia for over 5,000 years, and demand for it is likely to remain strong, as long as growers continue to produce high quality roots. Ginseng is the same herb that traditional ginseng hunters have harvested from the wild for generations in Appalachia. In the Asian marketplace, buyers sort ginseng roots into numerous grades, based on appearance, origin and other factors - ranging from relatively poor quality cultivated ginseng (generally from Korea, China, as well as Wisconsin and other parts of America) to high-demand wild ginseng and nearly indistinguishable VWG. The dried roots are then sold to people of all walks of life, who purchase different grades of ginseng according to their households buying ability. Ginseng is an important staple used in daily cooking. It is also prepared as a tonic. North American wild ginseng and VWG roots are among the grades that bring the highest prices, and with rising standards of living in China, Vietnam and other countries, more people can afford to buy the higher grades of roots than ever before. Wild ginseng of Asian origin is being killed by its own success. After centuries of digging, the plant is becoming virtually impossible to find in its wild state in Asia. In addition, as forests are cut down to make way for a swelling Chinese population, good growing areas are becoming almost non-existent and the plant has been pushed to a few tiny corners in the high mountains of easternmost Asia. Andy Hankins, a cooperative extension agent who has visited China, reports that it is now rare to see trees over 20 feet tall in China and that tracts of deep forest of any size are even more limited. For centuries, Ginseng has been a powerful economic force and in fact has changed the course of history in China from time to time. For example, in the third century B.C., Cheng, the first emperor to unite all of China, sent his troops out on regular missions to harvest ginseng, because it was such a lucrative crop. All wild ginsengs was declared the property of the emperor. By this time, Chinas hardwood forests were vanishing. In the seventeenth century A.D., leaders of Manchuria, a ginseng-rich province, used the provinces influence in the ginseng trade to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. Ginseng harvesting began to be tightly controlled by Chinese emperors, but there was little ginseng left to save. Then in the early 1700s, the first ginseng was discovered in North America, and enterprising sea captains began to ship the valuable root across the Pacific Ocean, beginning the North American ginseng trade. The market was good. About the Author: Jamie Huang has an interest in Chinese Culture related subjects. If you are interesting in finding out more information on Chinese Culture, please visit this successful Chinese Medicine site: http://ChineseMedicine.smartreviewguide.com American Ginseng Seed

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