抄録
Recent Japanese and Chinese pharmacopoeias prescribe that ginseng is the root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer of the Araliaceae family. However, in a herbal book Tujing Bencao written in the Song Dynasty of China, four botanical figures were shown as the origin of ginseng, three of which were apparently of different plants in the Araliaceae family. In this study, the botanical origin of ginseng in the past is herbologically studied, considering the distribution of plants, morphology and pharmacological use of ginseng.
The results show that there were two origins of ginseng in the Eastern Han Dynasty of China: one was Panax ginseng growing in the Korean Peninsula and the other was Adenothora tetrathylla of the Campanulaceae family used in eastern China. The root of A. tetrathylla is similar to ginseng and was revised to Panax ginseng later according to pharmacological changes relating to ginseng in China. We also infer that the cultivation of Panax ginseng started in China in the Tang Dynasty.
