Regardless of how disinteresting, pedestrian even, these three plants appear to be, they all suffer for being useful. This is particularly true of Ginseng, which has been so over-collected it is classified as a threatened species in more than half of the United States.
The Ginseng Family consists of more the 50 genera in about 500 species. These trees, shrubs, vines and herbs occur in temperate and tropical zones. They usually have compound leaves, and bear small flowers in umbels. Some, such as English Ivy are cultivated as ornamentals.
The flowers are radially symmetrical and either bisexual or unisexual. The calyx is absent or reduced to 4 or 5 points, and there are usually 5 petals and 5 stamens. All these parts are attached at the top of the ovary.
The leaves are alternate or whorled, and generally palmately or pinnately compound, with 3 to 5 leaflets each. The fruit produced is a berry, or berry-like stone fruit.
North American genera in the Ginseng Family include Aralia, Panax and Echinopanax. Species include, Ginseng, Dwarf Ginseng, Spikenard Tree (A. spinosa), Spikenard (A. racemosa), Wild Sarsaparilla (A. nudicaulis), and Devils' Club (E. horridum).
The aromatic rhizomes of Wild Sarsaparilla can be used as a substitute for Sarsaparilla. The tubers of Dwarf Ginseng, which looks like a smaller version of Ginseng, can be eaten raw or boiled.
Ginseng, unfortunately, is and has long been considered an aphrodisiac, not to mention a panacea for whatever ails you (hence, the Latin Panax). The common name is believed to be a corruption of the Chinese jin-shen, which means man-like, a reference to the human body-shaped root. And it is the depletion of the Chinese species, P. schin-seng, which lead to botanical fortune hunters turning to our own home grown species.
Ginseng was also employed to expedite affairs of the heart among Native Americans. The Meskwakis of Wisconsin made a love potion out of it while the Penobscot steeped the root to obtain a fertility drink.
