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| Wild Ginseng September 15, 2007 10:03:10 Ginseng is one of those plants steeped in lore and mystery. It has been attributed with all sorts of powers, both medicinal and spritual. The ground up root is used for tea and is an additive in an assortment of supplements, tonics, and in capsules by itself. Almost over harvested in recent years the plant is approaching membership on the endangered species list in some areas and making a comeback in others. 
On the 2nd of September of this year a friend of mine agreed to take me into the woods and show me where he knew there was some ginseng growing. He had dug ginseng at this location before and been developing a colony of plants over the years to provide a sustained harvest. Although we were not going to dig any roots that day, the season for digging in Illinois had begun the day before on the 1st of September. I have spent a lot of time in the woods in Illinois throughout my life and really never even knew the ginseng plant grew in this area. I did not know what the plant looked like but I did know during this time of year the mature plant will have a cluster of red berries on the top. Even with that it was hard for me to see the plant on the floor of the timber. In Illinois a digger is required to have in his possession while digging a license purchased from the state. It costs $7.50 so it is not expensive. You just have to go through the steps to get one. There are guidelines for the harvesting of ginseng. Most common is the age of the plant which is more or less determined by the number of leaf stalks. When a plant has 3 leaf stalks it is considered old enough to harvest but, in 2006, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources added to their regulations that only roots 10 years old or older are to harvested. Regulations vary from state to state but generally the reasoning behind the regulation is to insure the plant simply does not become extinct from improper harvesting or over harvesting. When a plant is dug that has seeds on it the seeds are supposed to be planted around the area where the plant was dug. In most cases, it is illegal to remove the seeds from the woods where the parent plant was found. It would make sense if you are a ginseng digger to follow this practice because you are helping sustain the species and the colony of plants from which you harvest. This practice relies entirely on the integrity of the harvester. We felt lucky to find the plants we did find on the day we were out. This has been a very dry and hot summer in Illinois. A lot of the undergrowth in the woods looked kind of wilted. Our guide thought that some of the ginseng in the area had probably lost their leaves and gone dormant for the winter. It just seemed to vary from one location to another in the timber we were in. Comment on this article |