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Ginseng () is any one of the 11 species of slow-growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, belonging to the genus ''Panax'' of the family Araliaceae. Ginseng is found in North America and in eastern Asia (mostly Korea, northeast China, Bhutan, eastern Siberia), typically in cooler climates. ''Panax vietnamensis'', discovered in Vietnam, is the southernmost ginseng known. This article focuses on the series ''Panax'' ginsengs, which are the adaptogenic herbs, principally ''Panax ginseng'' and ''P. quinquefolius''. Ginseng is characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin. Siberian ginseng (''Eleutherococcus senticosus'') is in the same family, but not genus, as true ginseng. Like ginseng, it is considered to be an adaptogenic herb. The active compounds in Siberian ginseng are eleutherosides, not ginsenosides. Instead of a fleshy root, Siberian ginseng has a woody root. ==Etymology== The English word ginseng derives from the Chinese term ''rénshēn'' (simplified: 人参; traditional: 人蔘). ''Rén'' means "Person" and ''shēn'' means "plant root"; this refers to the root's characteristic forked shape, which resembles the legs of a person.〔''Oxford Dictionaries Online'', s.v. "(ginseng )".〕 The English pronunciation derives from a southern Chinese reading, similar to Cantonese ''yun sum'' (Jyutping: jan4sam1) and the Hokkien pronunciation "jîn-sim". The botanical/genus name ''Panax'' means "all-heal" in Greek, sharing the same origin as "panacea" was applied to this genus because Linnaeus was aware of its wide use in Chinese medicine as a muscle relaxant. Besides ''P. ginseng'', many other plants are also known as or mistaken for the ginseng root. The most commonly known examples are ''xiyangshen'', also known as American ginseng 西洋参 (''P. quinquefolius''), Japanese ginseng 東洋参 (''P. japonicus''), crown prince ginseng 太子參 (''Pseudostellaria heterophylla''), and Siberian ginseng 刺五加 (''Eleutherococcus senticosus''). Although all have the name ginseng, each plant has distinctively different functions. However, true ginseng plants belong only to the ''Panax'' genus.〔Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology, by John K. Chen, Tina T. Chen〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ginseng」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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