Ginseng is among the world’s most well-known herbs A number of species of ginseng grow around the wolrd Several species and varieties of ginseng are recognized from different countries The two most commonly used species are P folium L and P ginseng C A Meyer Ginseng has a perennial, fusiform, whitish, thick and feshy root, transversely wrinkled and terminating in fbers The roots mature slowly and are harvested only after the frst 3 years The stem is round, smooth, green, often with a tinge of red, about 30 cm (1 ft) high, regularly divided at the top into three petioles, with a fower-stalk in the center The petiole is round, smooth and swollen at the base; leaves 3 to 7, ternate, quinate, or septentate that drop in the fall Flowers are small, greenish, in a simple umbel, supported by a round, slender peduncle, which rises from the top of the stem in the center of the petioles The plant bears a cluster of red or yellowish fruits from June to July The berries are kidney-shaped, retuse at both ends, compressed, of a bright- scarlet color, crowned with a calyx and styles, and contain two and sometimes three semicircular seeds Root is the part used It has a faint smell and the taste is sweetish, somewhat bitter, mucilaginous and feebly aromatic.
As early as 1854, a saponin called panaquilon was obtained from an aqueous infusion of P quinquefolium * Several classes of compounds have been isolated from ginseng root These include triterpene saponins, essential oil-containing polyacetylenes and sesquiterpenes, polysaccharides, peptidoglycans, nitrogen-containing compounds, and various ubiquitous compounds, such as fatty acids, carbohydrates and phenolic compounds Several studies have focused on the steroid-like compounds called ginsenoside Five new dammarane-type triterpene oligoglycosides called quinquenosides I, II, III, IV and V were isolated together with 14 known dammarane-type triterpene oligoglycosides such as chikusetsusaponin IVa, pseudo-ginsenoside-RC1, malonyl-ginsenoside-Rb1, and notoginsenosides-A,-C, and -K from the 1-butanol-soluble fraction From the ethyl acetate-soluble fraction, four known acetylenic compounds and 6?-O-acetyl ginsenoside-Rg1 were isolated.
