What’s the Big Deal About Ginseng?

This is the topic of my 10-minute speech for the Meet the Author’s Event on Saturday, Feb. 6,  at the Kimberling City Library. My talk, “What’s the Big Deal about Ginseng” is at 11:10 but there will be lots of other authors there giving their 10 minutes of engaging content, too. The allotted time may not be enough to cover all of the details in the article below, but I’ll be there most of the day to answer questions if you have any.

Here’s a PDF with the schedule. I hope you’ll come out to meet and greet your favorite local authors. I’ll have a bit of table space and all of my books, so if you want one autographed, it’s a perfect opportunity.

What is Ginseng?

Ginseng is a small understory woodland perennial plant that can live a long time. The oldest one I’ve seen from the Ozarks was about 45 years, but it can live to be 100 or more. It’s not a very large plant and the root, the part most often bought and sold, isn’t very large either.

The leaves and ripe berries have a market too, but those parts are not as much in demand as the roots.

Ginseng grows in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Siberia as well. Our north American species is called Panax quinquefolius. The other ginseng varieties in other countries have other species names, but they all belong to the genus Panax.

Here’s a post with photos if you’d like to see what ginseng looks like at various stages of growth.