TOPIC: Confused - need expert help

I was always told that once you know ginseng, there is no other plant in the woods that looks like it. Yesterday in my wanderings, I found a plant near where I had planted seeds a few years back. This plant has a main stem that comes up, branches off into 3 prongs with 5 leaves each, and the center has the crown section coming up off the main stem. I know for sure it isn't ginseng, but I've never seen a plant that meets so many of the identifying characteristics of ginseng. I'll grab a picture of it later today and post it here.

Would like to see the pic...

Other major identification marks for Ginseng include each set of 5 leaves there are 3 larger ones that point out from the center, and 2 smaller ones that point back towards the center.

Then the stem is mostly green to greenish brown (not woody).

The little jagged edges on the leaves that are more pronounced at the pointy end tips...

All 5 leaves come off the same point (no space or separation between their starting point).

Looking forward to seeing what you found.

TNhunter

Here is a picture of the plant. It's hard to see, but it does have 3 prongs all from the same point on the stem. It definitely has 5 sets of leaves with 3 large, and 2 smaller, just like ginseng. The stem feels soft, not woody. But the leaf edge and leaf shape isn't quite right. And the stem that extends up to the berry pod isn't the same either. Also, this plant is about 6 inches high off the ground, so it's very small. This is right in the middle of where I planted about 100 seeds 3 years ago. None of the seeds came up. But this is the first I remember seeing a plant like this in the woods. I looked all around the area today, and I couldn't find any other plants that looked like it.

Until I know more, I'm naming this one Fool's Ginseng

Mortis,
I could be wrong, but that looks like Dwarf Ginseng to me. Help us here guys.

Hugh

Just to help out, here is another picture of it with my pocket knife lying next to it. You can really see how tiny this plant is.

I found a couple of pics of dwarf ginseng online...

Here is one prior to bloom opening (very similar to your pic).



TNhunter

Here is another while in full bloom...

A beautiful wild wood flower for sure.

TNhunter

Yep definitely dwarf ginseng. One of my favorite little woodland plants. Nice pics fellas. Used to be a whole hilside of it until they logged this one woods. Now the light let the weeds take over and no more dwarf seng in that particular woods. Not much medicinal value but I do believe settlers as well as native Indians used the root for a food source if I do recall.

TN, I noticed in your one example pic it shows a 4 prong Dwarf Ginseng plant. I do not recall ever seeing a 4 prong dwarf seng plant before. Pretty cool for sure. I bet it is rare too. It's been a while since I have seen any big Dwarf Seng patches too.

Latt

Wow, that's awesome. It really caught my ginseng eye due to it's leaf arrangement. Now the question, since this is growing right in the middle of a patch where I planted ginseng seed 3 years ago, does that mean the seed I was planting was dwarf seed? I planted about 10 different areas that day, with 100+ seeds at each location, and nothing came up, so I assumed the seed was all bad. Maybe I better go out and check again.

Also, does Dwarf Ginseng grow roots large enough to harvest after 10 years, or is it just a pretty plant to keep in the woods?

Here is a nice youtube vid on dwarf ginseng with some nice up close shots.

It shows the (little bulb) root and there are a couple of slides on medicinal uses (you may have to pause to read).

Some stuff I noticed in the vid... said the plant can alternate between male and female flowers, and the tops are only up about 2 months out of the year.



TNhunter