TOPIC: Seng Identification

Hey Guys,

New to this site, from Northern Indiana. I got have a few acres of really dark woods with a lot of indicator plants, maidenshair fern, jack-in-the-pulpit..., and lots of maple, hickory, and yellow poplar trees....our season starts in Sept. but I want to start keeping an eye out for it now to see if its growing on my prperty...I have never looked for it before, but I'm told it grows in my county....few questions-

before flowering- what do the leaflets feel like? Waxy or soft? smooth or hair? does each prong normally have 3 leaf lets or five? what does the stem of the plant look like; I mean is it brown and woody, or green and soft?

Flowering- when do the flowers start to form? how long after do the berries form?

Look alikes- are there many plants that look similar to seng this time of year? which ones?

anxiously waiting for fall,

Thanks,

Sly

Just key in Ginseng Pics on Google and you can see thousands of pics. Also you can go to Harding's Ginseng farm and click on \"Take a Tour of the Farm\"
Good luck.
Latt

Thanks! Just looked there, nice picks, but they really dont have the detail about the stem where it leaves the ground that I'm looking for, nor does it help with questions about leaf texture....I have 3 or 4 different types of plants growing in my back woods that look like those....I supose i'll just keep an eye on them all and see what developes.

The leaves are not waxy but are not extremely smooth either. Edges of the leaves are serrated. The stalk is smooth and about the thickness of a pencil. Post a few pics and we can tell you what the plant is.
Thanks,
Latt

One Sly Savage

One plant, Sarsaparilla, nick named \"fools Ginseng\" look somewhat like ginseng. I know I have found it growing in WI, MI and in Maine. It has five leaves on each prong but only three leaves on the end of the prong and two more further down the prong.

It is a companion plant and I have some growing in my seng beds.

Here is a Sarsaparilla.

www.all-creatures.org/picb/wfshl-sarsaparilla-wild-11.html


True Wild Ginseng will have up to 4 or 5 prongs. Each prong will usually have five leaves and all five leave will be conected together at the same apex.

Here ia a Three prong ginseng.

classicfur

Sly,

Check out the youtube link below - shows lots of pics of wild seng and a few other plants from some of my seng hunts last year.

www.youtube.com/yttnhunter#p/u/4/9yc8-hcY9_I

Also check out other vids on my youtube channel. I have lots of video's there of actual ginseng hunt footage, walking up to finding a seng plant.

Also have a few video's on planting wild-simulated and the results this spring.

www.youtube.com/yttnhunter

Below is another good seng hunting video site from our friend Billy here on the forum.

www.youtube.com/ginsenghunter1

Best of Luck !

TNhunter

Thanks everyone, great info to get me started, great pics, i'll take some pics to get some feed back in the days ahead, once it forms berries it'll be easier for me to tell, this is a great site!

Sly