How a Jesuit priest’s letter changed the American economy, and why this ginseng runs cool
In 1716, a French Jesuit missionary named Joseph-François Lafitau was living among the Mohawk people in what is now Quebec when he came across a plant growing in the forest that looked remarkably familiar. He had recently read a letter written by a colleague in China describing the legendary ginseng root — its forked shape, its fanlike leaves, its habitat in shaded forest slopes — and standing there in the Canadian woods, he was fairly certain he was looking at a close relative.
He was right. And the economic consequences were considerable.
Within a few years, American colonists were harvesting and exporting the root to China by the ton, where demand was soaring as China’s own wild ginseng had been nearly exhausted by overharvesting. For the first time, American ginseng was added to the traditional Chinese medicine Materia Medica books, where it was named Xi Yang Shen. The fur trade had a new companion commodity. Daniel Boone, it turns out, was not just a frontier explorer — he was also a ginseng merchant.
Wild-crafted American ginseng is now strictly regulated as an internationally protected species. The irony of a plant named “Western ginseng” by the Chinese becoming endangered partly because the Chinese wanted so much of it is not lost on anyone.
Herb Name Essentials
Scientific Name
Panax quinquefolius
Common Name (Western)
American Ginseng
Chinese Name (Pin Yin)
Xi Yang Shen (西洋参) — literally “Western Ocean Root”
Origin
Native to the deciduous forests of eastern North America, from the Appalachians up through Quebec and Ontario. Most commercially available American ginseng today is cultivated, primarily in Wisconsin and Ontario, where the climate and forest conditions best mimic its native habitat. Roots are typically grown for four to six years before harvest.
⸬ ⸬ ⸬
Description
Panax quinquefolius is a low-growing perennial that prefers shaded forest floors — think the kind of quiet, cool, north-facing slope where light arrives filtered and indirect. The name Panax comes from the Greek for “all-healing,” which is either very on-brand or setting up unreasonable expectations, depending on your perspective. The root is the part used medicinally. It is fleshy, sometimes forked in a way that vaguely resembles a human figure, which is part of why it captured so much attention in both China and among indigenous North American peoples long before Lafitau came along.
American ginseng’s history stretches back centuries among the Iroquois, Ojibwe, and other First Nations, who used its root as a restorative and tonic. It was not a newcomer to herbal medicine when the Chinese got interested — it just acquired a new audience.
⸬ ⸬ ⸬
Uses
Here is where Xi Yang Shen gets genuinely interesting, and where it separates itself from its more famous Asian cousin.
American ginseng is often regarded as having more calming properties compared to the more invigorating effects of Asian ginseng. It is sweet, slightly bitter, and cool in nature, and enters the Heart, Kidneys, and Lung meridians. That word “cool” is doing a lot of work in TCM terms. Asian ginseng (Ren Shen) is warming — it is the one you reach for when someone is pale, cold, depleted, running on fumes. Xi Yang Shen is the one you reach for when the depletion comes with heat signs: someone who is fatigued but also restless, who has a dry mouth, who feels worn out in a way that comes with a low-grade sense of agitation rather than pure collapse.
In TCM, Xi Yang Shen belongs to the Tonic herbs for Qi Deficiency category. It benefits the Qi, generates fluids, and nourishes the Yin. In plain language: it supports normal energy levels while also being calming and moistening, which is an unusual combination and one that makes it particularly suited to people who are both tired and running hot — the classic overworked, under-rested, slightly frazzled presentation that does not exactly require imagination to visualize in a modern context.
The traditional indications also include support for lung health, particularly where there is dryness — a dry throat, a lingering dry cough, the kind of lung fatigue that follows a respiratory illness.
⸬ ⸬ ⸬
Cautions
Because Xi Yang Shen is cool and moistening in nature, it should be used with caution for those who tend toward sluggish digestion or who generally feel cold. In those cases the cooling, moistening nature of this herb can make things worse rather than better. As with all ginseng species, it is worth checking with your prescribing physician if you are on medications, as ginseng can interact with certain drugs. Not recommended during pregnancy without professional guidance.
⸬ ⸬ ⸬
Uses in Herbalogic Peak Power
American ginseng appears in Herbalogic Peak Power, our formula for energy and physical stamina. Its inclusion is deliberate and worth explaining, because Peak Power already contains other qi tonics. The reason Xi Yang Shen earns its spot alongside them comes down to that cooling, yin-nourishing quality. Peak Power is designed for people who need sustained energy support — and sustained energy demands are often accompanied by the kind of wear-and-tear heat that a purely warming formula can make worse over time. American ginseng helps balance that equation, supporting normal vitality without adding fuel to a fire that is already burning a little too hot.
Daniel Boone would be pleased to know his side hustle found such a good home.
