Panax

The Panax (ginseng) genus belongs to the Araliaceae (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. Furthermore, this disjunct distribution is asymmetric as only two of the ~18 species in genus are native to North America.

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 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]}

Genus Panax

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
Panax assamicus (Assam Ginseng)
Panax bipinnatifidus Seem.
var. angustifolius (Burkill) J.Wen
Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. (Asian ginseng, Chinese ginseng, Korean ginseng, Asiatic ginseng, Oriental ginseng)
Panax japonicus (T.Nees) C.A.Mey. (Japanese ginseng)
Panax quinquefolius L. (American ginseng)
Panax sokpayensis Shiva K.Sharma & Pandit
Panax vietnamensis Ha & Grushv.
Panax wangianus S.C.Sun
Panax zingiberensis C.Y.Wu & Feng
Section Pseudoginseng
Panax pseudoginseng Wall.
Panax stipuleanatus H.T.Tsai & K.M.Feng
Subgenus Trifolius
Panax trifolius L.

Hybrids:

• Panax ginseng × Panax quinquifolius
• Panax japonicus f. typicum × Panax quinquifolius