476 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



The roots are gathered from 3- to 4-year-old plants, carefully cleaned 

 and dried. The drug is extensively used in China and it has been 

 estimated that about 40,000 K. of ginseng are exported annually. 

 The supplies are not only obtained from wild plants, but also from 

 cultivated plants. The roots which are seen in the Chinese bazaars 

 are yellowish-brown, very horny and somewhat translucent, indicat- 

 ing that they have been subjected to some special treatment. While 

 the method is not generally known similar specimens may be prepared 

 by boiling, for a short time, the recently gathered roots with freshly 

 slaked lime. For illustrations of American-grown ginseng and Chinese 

 root, consult Kraemer's Applied and Economic Botany, p. 105. 



Description. Cylindrical, usually fusiform, from 5 to 12 cm. in 

 length, and 1 to 2.5 cm. in thickness; externally light yellowish- 

 brown, distinctly annulate in the upper portion, and terminated at the 

 crown by one or more stem scars, lower portion very much wrinkled, 

 occasionally branching, and marked by a number of root scars; frac- 

 ture short; internally light yellowish-brown, marked by a distinct 

 dark brown cambium zone, a distinctly radiate wood and numerous 

 oil secretion canals, which in older roots have a brownish-red resinous 

 content; odor slightly aromatic; taste sweetish, mucilaginous and 

 slightly bitter. 



Constituents. The active principle appears to be a glucosidal 

 substance, panaquilon. It also contains a saponin; a bitter principle; 

 a volatile oil containing a camphoraceous-like substance; resin; 

 panacin; sugar; mucilage; and starch. 



Allied Plants. Chinese ginseng is yellowish-brown, translucent, 

 and has a bitter, followed by a sweet and mucilaginous taste. Jap- 

 anese ginseng is spindle-shaped, light yellow, hard and woody. 

 The Korean ginseng is usually much branched, yellowish-brown or 

 light brown, the roots being still attached. 



PAN AX REPENS. The rhizome of Panax repens (Fam. Araliaceae), 

 a plant growing in Japan, is considered to have properties similar to 

 those of ginseng. 



Description. Rhizome horizontal, nearly cylindrical, more or less 

 curved, from 5 to 10 cm. in length and 3 to 6 mm. in thickness; 

 externally yellowish-white, nodes considerably thickened and marked 

 on the upper surface by circular stem scars; fracture horny; inter- 

 nally whitish, marked by small yellowish oil-secretion canals in the 

 cortex, narrow wedges of collateral fibrovascular bundles separated 

 by broad medullary rays, pith large. 



Inner Structure. (Fig. 205.) The cork consists of four to six 

 rows of tabular cells; a layer of cells nearly free from starch, the 



