P A 
top, diametrically oppofite to the fprig on which it hangs. 
When the berry is dry, there remains only a (hrivelled 
ilcin adhering clofe to the (tones, and is then of a dark 
red, or almoft black colour. This plant dies away, and 
fprings again every year. The number of its years may 
be known by the number of (talks it has (hot forth, of 
which there always remains fome mark ; as may be feen in 
the figures by the letters bbb; from whence it appears 
that the root A was feven years old, and that the root II, 
fig. 3, was fifteen. 
“ After I had defigned the root,” fays Monf. Jartoux, 
" I obferved the (late of my pulfe, and then took half of 
a root, raw as it was, and unprepared ; in an hour after I 
found my pulfe much fuller and quicker; I had an appe¬ 
tite, and perceived myfelf much more vigorous, and could 
bear labour better and eafier than before. Four days 
after, finding myfelf fo fatigued and weary that I could 
fcarcely fit on horleback, a mandarin, who was in com¬ 
pany with us, perceiving it, gave me one of thefe roots; 
I took half of it immediately, and an hour after I was 
not in the lead fenfible of any wearinefs. I have often 
made ufe of it fince, and always with the fame fuccefs. 
I have obferved alfo, that the green leaves, and efpecially 
the fibrous part of them, chewed, would produce nearly 
the fame effeft. The Tartars often bring people the 
leaves of ginfeng inftead of tea: and I always find myfelf 
fo well afterwards, that I (hould readily prefer them before 
the bed tea ; their decoftion is of a grateful colour, and, 
when one has taken it twice or thrice, its tade and fmell 
become very agreeable. As for the root, it is neceflary 
to boil it a little more than tea, to allow time for extradit¬ 
ing its virtue, as is praftifed by the Chinefe, when they 
give it to fick perfons; on which occafion they feldom ufe 
more than the fifth part of an ounce of the dried root. 
To prepare the root for exhibition, they cut it into thin 
dices, and put it into an earthen pot, well glazed, with 
about half a pint of w'ater: the pot is to be well covered, 
and let to boil over a gentle fire ; and, when the water is 
confirmed to the quantity of a cupful, a little fugar is to 
be mixed w ith it, and to be drunk ; immediately after this, 
as much more water is to be put to the remainder, and to 
be boiled as before, to extract all the juice, and what re¬ 
mains of the fpirituous part of the root. Thefe two dofes 
are to be taken, the one in the morning, and the other 
in the evening.” 
Ginfeng was formerly fuppofed to grow only in Chinefe 
Tartary, affefting mountainous fituations, (haded by clofe 
woods; but it has now been long known that this plant 
is alfo a native of North America, whence M. Sarrafin 
tranfmitted fpecimens of it to Paris in the year 1704.; 
and the ginfeng fince difcovered in Canada, Pennfylvania, 
and Virginia, by Lafiteau, Kalm, Bartram, and others, 
appears to correfpond with the Tartarian fpecies, and its 
roots are now regularly purchafed by the Chinefe, who 
confider them to be the fame with thofe of eaftern growth, 
which are known to undergo a certain preparation, by 
which they afi'ume a fomewhat different appearance. 
This plant was firft introduced in England in 1740 by 
that indultrious naturalift, Peter Coliinfon. The dried 
root of ginfeng, as it is imported here, is fcarcely as thick 
as the little finger, about three or four inches long, fre¬ 
quently forked, tranfverfely wrinkled, of a horny texture, 
and both internally and externally of a yellowifh-white 
colour. Tothetafte, fays Lewis, (Mat. Med.) it difco- 
vers a mucilaginous fiveetnefs, approaching to that of 
liquorice, accompanied with fome degree of bitterifhnefs, 
and a flight aromatic warmth, with little or no fmell. It 
is far lweeter, and of a more grateful fmell, than the 
roots of fennel, to which it has by fome been fuppofed 
fimilar ; and differs likewife remarkably from thofe roots, 
in the nature and pharmaceutic properties of its aftive 
principles : the fweet matter of the ginfeng being pro¬ 
cured entire in the watery as well as the fpirituous ext raft, 
whereas that of fennel-roots is deftroyed or diflipated in 
the infpifiation of the watery tinfture. The flight aro- 
N A X. 315 
matic impregnation of the ginfeng is likewife in good 
meafure retained in the watery extraft, and perfeftly in 
the fpirituous. 
Ginfeng has been confidered by the Chinefe as a power¬ 
ful aphrodifiac ; but a faft to the contrary is alleged by 
Dr. Cullen in his Mat. Med. vol. ii. p. 261. Highly as 
the virtues of this root have been extolled by the Chi¬ 
nefe, and by others upon their authority, we know of no 
proofs, fays Dr. Woodville, (Med. Bot.) of its efficacy in 
Europe; and, from its fenfible qualities, we judge it to 
poflefs very little power as a medicine. Father Loureiro 
doubts whether the American ginfeng be the fame with 
the precious g-in-fern of the Chinefe. He procured feeds 
from Tartary, but unfortunately on being fowed they 
did not germinate. He afl’erts that the efficacy of the 
Chinefe root is very different from that of Canada; that 
the latter is therefore fold cheaper; and that the fliape is 
fo different, that neither medical practitioners nor mer¬ 
chants can miftake them. If therefore our phyficians 
have only ufed the root which comes from Canada, they 
have not given the ginfeng a fair trial. 
2. Panax attenuatum, or taper-pointed tree-ginfeng : 
leaves ternate or quinate ; leaflets ovate, attenuated, cre- 
nate, trunk arborefcent. This is a fmall tree, with round, 
fmooth, unarmed branches. Leaves fcattered, alternate, 
petioled, quinate, very feldom ternate, and (till more 
feldom feptenate. Common petioles round, fmooth, 
longer than the leaves, a foot long, (heathing at the bafe : 
(heaths half embracing, within the bafe of the petiole, 
above free and acuminate. The lad; pedicels are half an 
inch long, and one-flowered. Flowers hermaphrodite, all 
fertile. Allied very nearly to P. arboreum. Native of the 
Well Indies ; in Guadaloupe, and St. Chriftopher’s. 
3. Panax trifolium, or fmall American ginfeng: leaves 
tern ternate. Stem Angle, not more than five inches 
high, dividing into three footllalks, each fuftaining a 
trifoliate leaf, with the leaflets longer, narrower, and 
more deeply indented on their edges, than in the firft fpe¬ 
cies. The flower-ftalk riles, as in that, from the divifions 
of the petiole. Native of North America. Mr. Miller 
had a fingle plant of it from Maryland, which he loft by 
drought before it flowered. It is fo nearly allied to the 
firft fort, that Linnaeus doubts whether it be any thing 
more than a variety of that, only much fmaller. 
4. Panax aculeatum, or prickly (hrubby ginfeng: leaves 
ternate, the uppermoft next the flowers crowded and Am¬ 
ple ; petioles and branchlets prickly ; ftem (hrubby. This 
is a flirub with a recurved prickle at the bafe and at the 
tip of the petioles. Leaves folitary, ternate, tern at the 
flowers ; with ovate blunt leaflets. Flowers with three 
ftyles. Native of China. Cultivated in 1773, by John 
Fothergill, M. D. 
5. Panax fpinofum, or thorny tree-ginfeng: leaves 
quinate, alternate; lpines folitary, below the branches; 
umbels lateral. Spines (lout, very llraight, fpreading, in¬ 
ftead of a leaf, below the abbreviated (hoots of the branch- 
lets. The flioots confift of three or four leaves without 
a branchlet, and among thefe leaves is a filiform pedun¬ 
cle with a Ample umbel; and fmall white flowers. Leaves 
wedge-form, produced at the tip, ferrate ; the lower ones 
ffiorter. Native of Japan, where it was found by Thun- 
berg; but is not mentioned in the Flora Japonica, or in his 
Travels. 
6. Panax arboreum, or ferrated tree-ginfeng: leaves 
feptenate ; (quinate-obovate, ferrate-toothed, Forjl .) um¬ 
bels compound. Native of New Zealand. 
7. Panaxchryfophyllum, or golden-leaved tree-ginfeng -. 
leaves in levens and nines ; leaflets lanceolate, quite en¬ 
tire, tomentofe underneath; umbels panicled. This i3 
a lofty tree, with branches the thicknefs of the thumb at 
top ; thefe, the leaves underneath, the younger petioles, 
the branches §f the panicle, the calyxes and petals on 
the outfide, are all covered with a fine golden cottony 
down. Leaves ternate, compound; leaflets umbelled ; 
the younger ones from three to feven inches in length, the 
lateral 
4. 
