By Eric Brand

Ginseng is by far the most famous herb in Chinese medicine; in fact, it is arguably the most famous botanical medicine in the world. The Chinese name for ginseng (Ren Shen) literally means “man root,” which alludes to its human-like shape. The doctrine of signatures thus suggests that there is a special bond between mankind and ginseng, and ginseng has been revered and deeply incorporated into Chinese medicine for millennia. By contrast, Dang Shen (Codonopsis Radix) only entered the materia medica in 1757 CE, well over 1500 years after the first materia medicas listed ginseng.

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In the photo above, we see photographs of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) which is closely related to Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng). This photo shows some particularly human-like roots, which were selected out of several hundred kilos of raw material by the shopkeepers. They took photos and blew them up to make a poster-size display that really captures the personality of the roots. Although Xi Yang Shen (American ginseng) didn’t make its way to China until after the discovery of the New World, it has proven to be a big hit for several centuries now.

Going back to Ren Shen and Dang Shen… In school, we learn that Ren Shen and Dang Shen have similar properties and the two are often used interchangeably. Dang Shen is generally less expensive than Ren Shen so it is commonly used in the place of Ren Shen in prepared medicines. As a “poor man’s ginseng,” Dang Shen saw a lot of action during the time period when China was economically weak following WWII; much of the ginseng went to the more expensive export markets and Dang Shen largely replaced it for domestic consumption for a time.

Despite its comparatively short history of use, Dang Shen is nonetheless an important medicinal plant. Like ginseng itself, Dang Shen has been subjected to extensive biomedical research and it has proven to be a very valuable substance in terms of pharmacology as well as traditional medicine. While Ren Shen has several unique actions that Dang Shen lacks in terms of its TCM functions, many Chinese texts ascribe an additional action of nourishing the blood to Dang Shen. There appears to be little consensus on this issue, but there is a trend towards listing a blood-nourishing action that Ren Shen lacks. I seem to remember that about four out of ten authoritative modern source texts explicitly say that Dang Shen nourishes the blood. The rest just say that it supplements qi to encourage the generation of blood, which is the same as the action stated for ginseng.

Regardless of whether or not Dang Shen truly has an explicit additional function of nourishing the blood that ginseng lacks, it is a very moist and sweet medicinal that has a very balanced nature. Good quality Dang Shen is large, soft, moist, and sweet, with a nicely developed “lion’s head” cluster at the top of the root. It is rich in polysaccharides, and the black spots that we see on it are due to oxidative changes from the polysaccharide-rich liquid that it bleeds. Multiple species are used in CM but they can usually only be differentiated by seeing the live plant, as the dried crude herb looks the same.

We can look at different source texts and debate whether Dang Shen has any unique traditional actions that Ren Shen lacks, but generally the two are said to share their actions of supplementing spleen qi and lung qi. However, ginseng has an additional action of supplementing the heart qi and quieting the spirit that Dang Shen lacks. Furthermore, there are two medicinal actions that are ascribed to ginseng alone- “da bu yuan qi,” which is usually translated as “greatly supplements original qi” and “yi zhi” which is often translated as sharpening the mind or boosting intelligence. Ginseng is the only medicinal in the entire materia medica that is ascribed these two actions.

Almost no other Chinese herb has developed the same degree of culture and sophistication around its use, with the notable exception of tea. We find that general cultural attitudes on ginseng vary broadly by region; for example, red ginseng is basically thought to be good for everyone in Korea, whereas in Hong Kong red ginseng is approached with caution and only American ginseng is used by everyone.

As Chinese medicine practitioners, ginseng is the most famous herb in our repertoire. I personally think that all CM practitioners should try ginseng to get a feel for its effects. If it isn’t indicated, go easy on it, but get to know it so you can really understand its nature. Ginseng’s unique properties are easy to feel if one consumes high-quality ginseng with regularity, and many people find it quite remarkable. I don’t take ginseng all the time, but I do notice that good ginseng makes me feel better, smarter, and happier. I’ve never found anything else that makes me feel quite the same way; it is a subtle but tangible feeling.

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