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If you really want to get confused, go to Chinatown in NY City or San
Francisco and see what the various ginseng products are called! American
ginseng grown in China is often referred to as "China white" .
"Korean ginseng" usually sells for far more than "Chinese
ginseng" although both are P.ginseng. There are regional price
differences among ginseng from different provinces and the dozens of
separate grades make it even more interesting. And of course there is
still some Siberian ginseng around although it is technically illegal to
call Eleutherococcus or anything other than species of Panax as
"ginseng", The Wisconsin ginseng growers managed to get this
rule into the last farm bill. Everything you say below is technically
correct as far as I know. It is the consumers who must wade through this
stuff. The next time someone trashes "ginseng" in the
latest research designed to "prove" that it is
"worthless", question the source of whatever they are testing.
Even a "well designed", "double blind" study ends up
as garbage if the inputs are garbage. <br><br>
<br><br>
At 04:15 PM 11/15/2005, Steven Dentali, Ph.D. wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=2>You are correct
about Panax ginseng being Asian ginseng, but not all ginseng grown in
Korea is Korean ginseng or all ginseng grown in China Panax ginseng. The
U.S. and Canada ship out seeds from American ginseng (<i>Panax
quinquefolium</i>) to Korea and China in large amounts. <br>
</font> ...<br>
<font size=2>There are many American growers now cultivating
<i>Panax ginseng</i> from Korean ginseng seeds. Therefore, I must
disagree with your statement that
<i>"</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">It may be correctly
referred to as Korean ginseng only if it's from (grown in)
Korea."</i></font></blockquote>The use of "Korean" in
Korean ginseng refers to where the Asian ginseng was grown because Korean
is not a recognized variety with it's own separate common name. Let me
explain.<br><br>
<i>Panax ginseng</i> is Asian ginseng and it can be carry a geographical
modifier indicating where it was grown (China, Korea, or even the US). If
it were a variety with a named location then the variety would retain
that geographical reference regardless of where it was grown. <i>Herbs of
Commerce </i>uses the following examples to illustrate this fact:
"English walnuts grown in California are English walnuts; Japanese
honeysuckle from a Chinese farm is Japanese honeysuckle." However
the established common name (according to HOC, which is officially
adopted by FDA regulations for dietary supplement labeling on Jan 1,
2006, see
<a href="http://www.ahpa.org/update_05_1107.htm">
http://www.ahpa.org/update_05_1107.htm</a>) for Asian ginseng does not
specify any further geographical source. Therefore Asian ginseng is only
appropriately considered as Korean when it is grown in Korea. <br>
<br>
If American ginseng (<i>Panax quinquefolius</i>) is grown in China it
could not erroneously be called Chinese American ginseng though it would
be less confusing if it were termed as American ginseng grown in China.
Assuming one accepts this treatment of common name nomenclature then
Korean ginseng seeds are really Asian ginseng seeds from Korea
("Korean ginseng" not being recognized as a separate variety of
ginseng that is different from the parent Asian ginseng). If American
growers are growing Asian ginseng seeds from Korea then they are
producing Asian ginseng grown in America with Korean seeds or perhaps
Wisconsin (grown) Asian ginseng from seeds of Korean origin. It's still
Asian ginseng (but not Korean or Chinese) regardless of where it is
grown.<br><br>
I hope that the differentiation of common names that contain a
geographical indicator and those that don't is helpful here.<br><br>
Best regards,<br><br>
Steven<br><br>
<pre>Steven Dentali, Ph.D.
VP, Scientific and Technical Affairs
American Herbal Products Association
8484 Georgia Avenue, Suite 370
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301.588.1171 x 103
Fax: 301.588.1174
<a href="http://www.ahpa.org">www.ahpa.org</a>
</pre><font face="Courier New, Courier"></font><br>
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