^^ GINSENG. 



-cshy, somewhat jointed, and has an agreeable 

 aromatic taste, intermediate between that of 

 ginger and the Virginia snake root. Hence 

 its popular names. As a warm stimulant and 

 diaphoretic it is much praised, being given in 

 the form of tea or powder ; and as a substitute 

 for ginger, in common domestic use, I know 

 of no indigenous article, says Dr. Bigelow, 

 which promises so fairly as this. It does not 

 possess the very active emetic, cathartic, and 

 sternutatory powers of the European asarum. 

 The other American species are the A. Virgi- 

 nicum, and A. arifolium. 



GINSENG (Panax quinquefolium, five-leaved 

 panax). This American plant, which has 

 great commercial importance, has a perennial 

 root, which sends up annually a smooth, round 

 stem, about a foot in height, dividing at the 

 summit into three leafstalks, each of which 

 supports a compound leaf, consisting of five, 

 or more rarely of three or seven petiolate, 

 oblong, obovate, acuminate, serrate leaflets. 

 The flowers are small, greenish, and arranged 

 in a simple umbel, supported by a peduncle, 

 which rises from the top of the stem in the 

 centre of the petioles. The fruit consists of 

 kidney-shaped, scarlet berries, crowned with the 

 styles and calyx, and containing two, and some- 

 times three seeds. The root is fleshy, some what 

 spindle-shaped, from 1 to 3 inches long, about 

 as thick as the little finger, and terminated by 

 several slender fibres. Frequently there are 

 two portions, sometimes three or more, con- 

 nected at their upper extremity, and bearing a 

 supposed though very remote resemblance to 

 the human figure, from which circumstance it 

 is said that the Chinese name ginseng originated. 

 When dried, the root is yellowish white, and 

 wrinkled externally, and within consists of a 

 hard, hornlike substance, surrounded by a 

 whitish, softer, cortical portion. It has a feeble 

 odour, and a sweet, slightly aromatic taste, 

 somewhat analogous to that of liquorice root. 

 It has not been accurately analyzed, but is said 

 to be rich in gum and starch. 



The plant grows in the hilly regions of the 

 Northern, Middle, and Western States, and 

 prefers the shelter of thick, shady woods. 

 It is a native also of Chinese Tartary. The 

 root is the part employed. This is collected 

 in considerable quantities in Ohio and West- 

 ern Virginia, and brought to Philadelphia 

 and other cities on the sea-board for the 

 purpose of exportation to China, where it 

 is highly valued. While supplied exclusively 

 from their own native sources, which furnish- 

 ed the root only in small quantities, the Chinese 

 entertained the most extravagant notions of 

 its virtues, considering it as a remedy for all 

 diseases, and as possessing almost miraculous 

 powers in preserving health, invigorating the 

 system, and prolonging life. It is said to have 

 been worth its weight in gold at Pekin ; and 

 the first shipments made from North America 

 to Canton, after the discovery of the root in this 

 country, were attended with enormous profits. 

 But the subsequent abundance of supply has 

 greatly diminished its value, and though it still 

 occasionally forms a part of the investments 

 for Canton, it has become an object of less 

 importance than formerly. 

 540 



GLASSWORT, JOINTED. 



1 The following statement shows the value 

 of the ginseng exported from the United States 



| for seven years ending the 30th September, 

 1841: viz. 1834, $70,202; 1835, $94,970; 1836, 

 $211,405; 1837, $109,368; 1838, $36,622 ; 1839, 

 $118, 904 ; 1840, $22,728; 1841, $437,245. 



Medical Projicrties and Uses. The extraordi- 

 nary medical virtues formerly ascribed to 

 ginseng, had no other existence than in the 

 imaginations of the Chinese. It is little more 

 than a demulcent; and in this country is not 

 employed as a medicine. Some persons, how- 

 ever, are in the habit of chewing it, having 

 acquired a relish for its taste ; and it is chiefly 

 to supply the wants of these that it is kept in 

 the shops. (U. S. Dispensatory.) 



There is another species of ginseng indige- 

 nous to the lower part of Pennsylvania and 

 other sections of the United States, called the 

 dwarf ginseng, or three-leaved panax (P. trifo- 

 lium). This has also a perennial root, a glo- 

 bose tuber about half an inch in diameter, 

 rather deep in the ground. The stem grows 4 

 to 6 inches high, slender, minutely grooved, 

 smooth, mostly of a tawny purple colour, di- 

 vided at the summit into three petioles of half 

 an inch to an inch long. Leaflets, generally 

 three, but not unfrequently five, unequal,half an 

 inch to two inches long, and to of an inch 

 wide, lance-oblong shape, rather acute. The 

 flower is white and has five petals. The plant 

 frequents shaded grounds, along rivulets, where 

 it blooms in April. (Flora Cestrica.} 



Professor Hooker describes a third species 

 of ginseng (P. horridum), which is large, 

 shrubby and prickly. This grows west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



GIPSEY-WORT, or WATER HORE- 

 HOUND (Lycopus Europceus}. An herbaceous 

 perennial plant, growing on the banks of clear 

 ditches, pools, and rivers, on a sandy or gra- 

 velly soil, flowering in July or August. The 

 root is creeping, stem two feet high, leaves 

 numerous, oblong, acute, deeply serrated, often 

 deeply pinnatifid. Flowers white, with purple 

 dots. See BUGLE WEED. 



GLANDERS. A disease in horses, attended 

 with a copious discharge of mucus from the 

 nose. It is needless to endeavour to describe 

 the various attempts which have been made to 

 cure this almost invariably fatal disorder. But 

 the farmer must avoid a common error of con- 

 founding ulceration of the membrane of the 

 nose with glanders, for the symptoms are very 

 similar. Blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) in 

 thin gruel (one drachm doses) has been given 

 in recent cases with occasional success. The 

 nostrils may be washed with a solution of 

 chloride of lime. The farmer will do well, as 

 soon as he finds a horse attacked with this 

 disease, to place him by himself, give him 

 green food, and thoroughly whitewash the 

 stable from which he is taken, for it is a most 

 contagious disease. 



GLASSWORT, JOINTED (Solicornia from 

 sal, salt, and cornu, a horn). Of this genus of 

 plants there are, in England, four indigenous 



j species, which are found very common in salt 



I marshes and muddy sea-shores that are fre- 



I quently overflowed by the tide. 



I 1. The common jointed glasswort, sea-grass, 



