Siberian ginseng

Photo: Stanislav Doronenko — CC BY 2.5 · source

Survives zone 3 through 8

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Berries in late summer to autumn

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Better known as a root used in traditional medicine and supplements than as food, though young shoots are eaten locally as a spring green and the small dark berries are edible. Not a true ginseng (Panax) despite the common name — a different genus in the same family.

Hardiness

Zone 3–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Shoot, Fruit

Ripens

Berries in late summer to autumn

Mature size

1.2–1.5 m tall and wide

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

4.5–6.5 (acidic)

Environment

Temperate montane forest

Native range

The Russian Far East — Amur, Khabarovsk, Primorye and Sakhalin — through north-eastern China and Inner Mongolia to Korea and Japan, in mixed montane and coniferous forest understorey, thickets and forest edges. Despite the trade name Siberian ginseng it does not reach Siberia proper, and the Mongolia in its range is China's Inner Mongolia rather than the country.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

150 cm (59 in) apart — about 2.3 m² (24 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Palmately compound, ginseng-like leaflets, on thorny stems

Root system

A woody root and rhizome system that suckers into a thicket — and the root is the part harvested for the traditional medicine trade, which is why wild stands in Russia and China have been heavily dug.

Fruit description

Small, round, deep purple-black berries in umbels

Propagation

Seed (needs about 6 months warm followed by at least 1 month cold stratification, and can still be slow), cuttings, or layering.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated, and the plants are variable in sex expression — some carry male, some female, some perfect flowers — so a group fruits far better than a single plant.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.