Medicinal Herbs

Ngoc Linh Ginseng Root Extract

Panax vietnamensis

Ngọc Linh ginseng (Panax vietnamensis) is a perennial herb reaching about a metre, growing from a stout rhizome some three and a half centimetres thick that sometimes ends in a rounded tuber. One to four hollow stems rise from it, each carrying a whorl of usually four palmate leaves with five finely toothed, bristly leaflets, and a single umbel of 50 to 120 yellow-green flowers that set red berries tipped with black. Endemic to Vietnam, it was found in 1973 at 1,500 metres on the Ngọc Linh range in the central highlands. The rhizome is infused or simmered; the taste is bitter, and stays bitter.