TOPIC: Is this the real thing?

huntsman53 wrote:

These are 3 (three) prongs or 3 pronged Ginseng plants with three branches or stems with leaves coming off the main stem.

The one on the left looks to be a small 4:ohmy:
There also appears to be a 2 prong beneath the 3 prong on the right.
I also think I see a couple of flat tops and part of another ginseng plant in this pic.... nice little patch FrankB)

I agree with Frank there Jimbo..

What you have looks like a young blackberry briar to me.

Below is a good pic that will help you identify Ginseng.

It shows a big patch of virginia creeper (another woods plant with leaves similar to ginseng)... and there is one 3 prong ginseng plant in the picture (circled).



What helps to ID ginseng is the pattern found when looking at all of the leaves of the seng plant together. The small leaves point to the center, and the larger leaves point outwards.

TNhunter

Below is a pic of a 2 prong ginseng plant.

That is from one of my wild simulated patches.

Notice again - big leaves pointing out, small leaves pointing in.

That is the pattern your eyes will eventually pick up on.

TNhunter

5prong wrote:

huntsman53 wrote:

These are 3 (three) prongs or 3 pronged Ginseng plants with three branches or stems with leaves coming off the main stem.

The one on the left looks to be a small 4:ohmy:
There also appears to be a 2 prong beneath the 3 prong on the right.
I also think I see a couple of flat tops and part of another ginseng plant in this pic.... nice little patch FrankB)

5prong,

Thanks! I hurriedly copied my' pics from Photobucket after I resized them and did not look too close when I posted them on the forum. Also, thanks for posting the two prong pic!


Frank

Jimbo, there are many plants that will catch your eye and my eye to with the shape of ginseng. If you keep looking the way you are you will succeed in the search! Hit the cohosh nettles Solomon seal Indian turnip woods, you'll get it.

I would like to add, that when teaching Ginseng hunting, I have the person that I am teaching, carry a 3 prong top, a 4 prong top or both with them as they search. If you find and dig a 3 prong, 4 prong or both, remove the top(s) and carry them in your' hand so that you can occasionally look at them and compare them to plants that you are seeing that are similar. This is how I learned and believe that it is one of the best teaching tools that you will ever discover when it comes to finding Ginseng! Just don't get discouraged that even after you have spent months or even years searching for and finding Ginseng, that every once in awhile, you will be fooled by some plant. It happens and actually happens to the best of Ginsengers!


Frank

Could be American Oxnard..kind a looks like a patch of wild Oxnard ythat grows near my deer stand