Panax quinquefolium. 195 
of the union. It is much more frequent in the western states, always. 
however, being thinly scattered over a large tract of country. It de- 
lights in rich, shady, mountainous regions, where it retires to the 
deepest recesses of shade and protection, and, as already mentioned, 
is generally found near the roots of trees. In the vicinity of Phila- 
delphia, it is certainly a rare plant: yet I have been successful in 
finding it both on the high rocky banks of the Wissahickon creek, 
under deep shade, and in the unbrageous woods above the falls of 
Schuylkill on the west side, where it grows in company with other 
rare plants, as Dentaria diphylla, D. concatenata, Caulophyllum thalic- 
troides, Triosteum perfoliatum, Viola Pennsylvanica, Orchis specta- 
bilis, Obolaria Virginiana, &c. The specimens from which the figure 
was made, I collected, the flowering one in July, and the fruiting one 
in September last, at which time I found five individuals of this 
scarce plant within a quarter of a mile of each other. — 
The root of this plant is the celebrated Ginseng of the Chinese, 
which has, till within a few years past, constituted an article of ex- 
tensive and profitable commerce to the inhabitants of North America. 
It is not, however, now exported to China, owing either to the quan- 
tities obtained in that country, or to some fancied deterioration in 
the article ; and I have been informed by a supercargo, that a quan- 
tity carried out to Canton a year or two since in a vessel in which he 
sailed, was thrown overboard on their arrival there, to avoid pay- 
