Panax

Panax
Panax quinquefolius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Araliaceae
Subfamily:	Aralioideae
Genus:	Panax L.
Species
See text

The Panax (ginseng) genus belongs to the Araliaceae ^[1] (ivy) family. Panax species are characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin. Panax is one of approximately 60 plant genera with a classical disjunct east Asian and east North American distribution. ^[2] Furthermore, this disjunct distribution is asymmetric as only two of the ~18 species in genus are native to North America.

Etymology

American ginseng at Monk Garden in Wisconsin .

The name Panax, meaning "all-healing" in Greek, shares the same origin as "panacea" and was used for this genus because Carl Linnaeus was aware of its wide use in Chinese medicine.^{[ citation needed ]}

Panax species

Genus Panax ^[3]

Subgenus Panax

Section Panax

Series Notoginseng

Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F.H.Chen (known as san qi, tian qi or tien chi)

Series Panax

Panax arunachalensis Taram, A.P.Das & Tag ^{[4] [5]}

Panax assamicus (Assam Ginseng) ^[6]

Panax bipinnatifidus Seem. ^[7]

var. angustifolius (Burkill) J.Wen

Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. (Asian ginseng, Chinese ginseng, Korean ginseng, Asiatic ginseng, Oriental ginseng) ^[8]

Panax japonicus (T.Nees) C.A.Mey. (Japanese ginseng) ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Panax quinquefolius L. (American ginseng)

Panax sokpayensis Shiva K.Sharma & Pandit ^[12]

Panax vietnamensis Ha & Grushv.

Panax wangianus S.C.Sun ^[13]

Panax zingiberensis C.Y.Wu & Feng

Section Pseudoginseng

Panax pseudoginseng Wall.

Panax stipuleanatus H.T.Tsai & K.M.Feng ^{[14] [15]}

Subgenus Trifolius

Panax trifolius L.

Hybrids:

• Panax ginseng × Panax quinquifolius ^[16]
• Panax japonicus f. typicum × Panax quinquifolius ^[17]

Phylogeny

Based on chloroplast genomes (Manzanilla et al. 2018 and Xia et al. 2025): ^{[18] [19]}

	Aralia
	P. trifolius P. bipinnatifidus P. stipuleanatus P. quinquefolius P. ginseng P. notoginseng P. pseudoginseng P. japonicus P. major P. wangianus P. zingiberensis P. vietnamensis	subg. Trifolius ser. Panax sect. Pseudoginseng ser. Panax ser. Notoginseng sect. Pseudoginseng ser. Panax

References

1. "Ivy Family - Araliaceae - Common names". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
2. Zuo, Yun-Juan; Wen, Jun; Ma, Jin-Shuang; Zhou, Shi-Liang (2015). "Evolutionary radiation of the Panax bipinnatifidus species complex (Araliaceae) in the Sino-Himalayan region of eastern Asia as inferred from AFLP analysis". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 53 (3): 210–220. doi:10.1111/jse.12119. ISSN   1759-6831. S2CID   82972879.
3. "'Panax search' from the Plant List". The Plant List, v. 1.1. 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
4. "Panax arunachalensis Taram, A.P.Das & Tag". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
5. Taram, Momang; Das, A.P. & Tag, Hui (2018). "A new species of Panax L. (Araliaceae) from Arunachal Pradesh, India". Pleione. 12 (2): 315–321. doi: 10.26679/Pleione.12.2.2018.315-321 .
6. "Panax Assamicus".
7. "Panax bipinnatifidus Seem. — The Plant List" . Retrieved 2018-07-14.
8. "Asian Ginseng". National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). September 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
9. Rai, Amit; Yamazaki, Mami; Takahashi, Hiroki; Nakamura, Michimi; Kojoma, Mareshige; Suzuki, Hideyuki; Saito, Kazuki (2016). "RNA-seq Transcriptome Analysis of Panax japonicus, and Its Comparison with Other Panax Species to Identify Potential Genes Involved in the Saponins Biosynthesis". Frontiers in Plant Science. 7: 481. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.00481 . ISSN   1664-462X. PMC   4828455 . PMID   27148308.
10. "Japanese ginseng". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
11. Plantae Medicinales oder Sammlung offizineller Pflanzen.
12. Sharma, Shiva Kumar; Pandit, Maharaj Krishan (2009). "A New Species of Panax L. (Araliaceae) from Sikkim Himalaya, India". Systematic Botany. 34 (2): 434–438. doi:10.1600/036364409788606235. JSTOR   40211904. S2CID   198131033.
13. "Panax wangianus S.C.Sun — The Plant List" . Retrieved 2018-07-14.
14. "Panax stipuleanatus H.T.Tsai & K.M.Feng — The Plant List" . Retrieved 2018-07-14.
15. Trieu, Le Ngoc; Mien, Nguyen Tuong; Van Tien, Tran; Van Ket, Nguyen; Van Duy, Nong (16 March 2016). "Genetic diversity of Tsai in North Vietnam detected by inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers". Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment. 30 (3): 506–511. doi: 10.1080/13102818.2016.1157448 .
16. Kim, Jong Youn; Adhikari, Prakash Babu; Ahn, Chang Ho; Kim, Dong Hwi; Chang Kim, Young; Han, Jung Yeon; Kondeti, Subramanyam; Choi, Yong Eui (2019). "High frequency somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration of interspecific ginseng hybrid between Panax ginseng and Panax quinquefolius". Journal of Ginseng Research. 43 (1): 38–48. doi:10.1016/j.jgr.2017.08.002. PMC   6323240 . PMID   30662292.
17. Kuriyama, H. (1950). "The cytological studies on the interspecific hybrid of Panax". Japanese Journal of Crop Science. 19 (1–2): 209–213. doi: 10.1626/jcs.19.209 .
18. Manzanilla, V.; Kool, A.; Nguyen Nhat, L.; Nong Van, H.; Le Thi Thu, H.; de Boer, H. J. (December 2018). "Phylogenomics and barcoding of Panax: toward the identification of ginseng species". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 18 (1): 44. Bibcode:2018BMCEE..18...44M. doi: 10.1186/s12862-018-1160-y . PMC   5883351 . PMID   29614961.
19. Xia, Pengguo; Huang, Yang; Zhu, Junqiao (January 2025). "The complete chloroplast genome sequences of 11 Panax species: Providing insights for evolution and species identification". Industrial Crops and Products. 223: 120160. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.120160.