Ginseng Among The Native Americans

The plant now known as Korean or red ginseng was the most popular herb in China for thousands of years. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, supplies of wild ginseng were growing scarce, so the Chinese were forced to look for other sources. Amazingly, an almost identical plant grew in North America, and Native Americans had also put it to the same medicinal uses.

In 1709, Petrus Jartoux, a Jesuit missionary to China, received four pieces of American ginseng after accompanying a mapping expedition. He found himself so reinvigorated by the herb after his exhausting journey that he published his observations in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Father Jartoux noted that he thought the plant could be found in the cold, damp forests of French Canada, similar to the areas of China where it grew wild. Another Jesuit missionary working among the Mohawk tribe in Quebec, Pere Lafitau, read Father Jartoux's account in 1714. Lafitau promptly located the same plant, called gar-ent-oguen, or "man plant," by the Iroquois.

This plant turned out to have the same medicinal qualities as Chinese ginseng. Not only did the Iroquois use the same plant, they used it for the same purposes as the Chinese. By 1748, the Jesuits were selling tons of American ginseng in China for the then-unimaginable price of five dollars a pound.

Ginseng was used throughout North America. The Cherokee of North Carolina called ginseng the "plant of life" and used the root for cramps, dysmenorrhea, and symptoms that we would now identify as premenstrual syndrome. The Potawatomi used ginseng to mask the unpleasant tastes of other medicines. The Alabamans took ginseng for stomach pains and nausea, and used it to pack wounds to stop bleeding. The Creeks used ginseng for bronchial disease, cough, croup, and fever. The Menominee used ginseng as the Chinese did, to stimulate mental capacity and as a general tonic.

One of the most unusual uses of ginseng came from the Pawnee, who combined ginseng with two other herbs into a love potion. Possession of this medicine supposedly served to attract all personas to the holder, regardless of animosities. If the hair of the desired woman was added to the mixture, she was said to be incapable of resisting!

Source: Prescription for Herbal Healing, by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC