TOPIC: Ginseng Genetics

Your variety, if it lacks certain \"negative traits\" could supplant the native one, and worse out compete with our plants that live in similar conditions. Just look at invasive species. Not sure about where you live, but in my area Japanese Knotweed is taking over all the road sides, killing everything else that lives there.

Ittiz,

I don't think we have to worry about it being invasive when it's hard enough to get it to even survive.

From what I've read and can understand each state has a slightly different makeup and even within each state each colony of ginseng will have different traits in amounts of ginsenosides and nitrate levels according to climate and soil.

Now in the plants from ordered seed that I have I've noticed that they come up a good 2 weeks before the native plants and will flower really early and start having ripe berries by
mid July where as native plants are last of August and later.

It' my opinion that the cultivated and native hasn't crossed yet because of the time difference in pollination.

Ittiz wrote:

Your variety, if it lacks certain \"negative traits\" could supplant the native one, and worse out compete with our plants that live in similar conditions. Just look at invasive species. Not sure about where you live, but in my area Japanese Knotweed is taking over all the road sides, killing everything else that lives there.

OMG. - My worst fears - sang growing faster than I can dig it LOL:laugh:

Just couldnt resist - sorry

5prong wrote:

OMG. - My worst fears - sang growing faster than I can dig it LOL:laugh:

Just couldnt resist - sorry

Seriously, I understand the idea of invasive species and such. However, I too do not believe that is an issue. Put it this way, if we bring in a strain of ginseng seed which crosses with our local plants and results in a more hardy version of the plant, where is the down side of that? I doubt ginseng will ever get to the point 5prong will pass out from digging too much


But, on another note, isn't that the purpose of preserves and the national parks and such? To protect the native species where they exist? So in this particular instance, wouldn't protected plants in the parks be a source of unaltered genetics from that particular locality?

In my particular case, the seed I use originates about two hours north of me on the other side of the lake. So if anything, one would think it would be more hardy and resistant to colder temperatures as the local stuff. I know for certain, that my 9 year old wild sim patch (and some others) are reproducing naturally at this point and are doing remarkably well.

Will those plant genetics be considered native in another 50 or 100 years?


Really, I'm not arguing here. I am trying to understand the objections, I'm just not getting it I guess.

Rootman,

It sounds like you may have some plants that are slightly locally adapted to a different area. Where'd you get the seed from? If the seed you got came from a colder state it could be the plants are forced to come up earlier in order to get through the whole season. In a warm area it can be better for the plant to come up later. Since it has more time it can delay the sprouting time to reduce the risk of being damaged by frost. That would be my theory anyway.

There is no wild ginseng left in my area, so I've been buying seeds from different places similar to my own in order to maximize the chances the plants I have will be genetically diverse and somewhat pre-adapted to the area. Local adaptation can have an effect, especially for wild sim.


5prong,

Yeah, due to their nature, I'm not too worried about super ginseng taking over. The irony is if it did, the prices would plummet and we wouldn't be so excited about finding ginseng anymore.

BCastle,

You notice anything different about your plants? I really don't think there is anything different enough about particular ginseng plants to confer a large advantage or disadvantage over other's.

I dont claim to be an expert on this either, but the way I understand it there are 2 issues of introducing cultivated seed in amongst wild plants.

1. The possible introduction of disease from contaminated seed or rootlets

2. The concern that the introduced plants are genetically deficient to survive the micro-environment that they are placed in and the consequences this has on future generations.

The way I see it, the first issue has more merit especially in dense plantings. It could be argued though that these diseases are already present in a wild environment. I have seen alternaria in wild plants. I know of a patch of black cohosh that goes down early almost every year due to alternaria. What I dont know is if there are different strains of alternaria. We had a very wet summer here this year, and I saw some alternaria on some isolated patches of presumedly wild ginseng too.

The second issue really doesnt hold a lot of merit in my opinion. I agree that in the first generation of cross pollinated plants that the ones with inferior genetics probably wont survive, but this happens with wild seed too. Furthermore, if the initial introduction of \"different ginseng\" is by seed then then the ones that are deficient of genetic material to survive the micro environment will not survive to reproductive age to begin with... thus eliminating any concerns about creating a less hardy strain.
Even if rootlets are used, I believe that less hardy genetics will not survive to any great extent after the first generation of cross pollinated plants as these too will succumb to these inadequencies before reaching the age that they begin producing seed for future generations....

5prong wrote:

Ittiz wrote:

Your variety, if it lacks certain \"negative traits\" could supplant the native one, and worse out compete with our plants that live in similar conditions. Just look at invasive species. Not sure about where you live, but in my area Japanese Knotweed is taking over all the road sides, killing everything else that lives there.

OMG. - My worst fears - sang growing faster than I can dig it LOL:laugh:

Just couldnt resist - sorry

LOL!! I would love to have that problem!


Frank

BCastle,

You notice anything different about your plants? I really don't think there is anything different enough about particular ginseng plants to confer a large advantage or disadvantage over other's.

I agree. But at one time (before a disaster) I had plants from many different states and clearly saw differences in when they emerged and their disease resistance.

Currently, the only real difference I see is that the seed stalks tend to be higher on the plants from my seed than on the wild plants.

One other thing I've noticed is that the wild plants seem to come up a week or so later in the spring.

Other than that, I\"m not seeing any difference at all in the quality of root or its growth in the same conditions.

Brad,

Dr. Jim McGraw from WVU has done the most ginseng research in recent years, some of it genetically related. Dr. Marla McIntosh, with a university in Maryland I think, released and genetics specific study in the past year or two. The USGS also did a study covering populations in several states, I think the reasearchers last name was Young maybe. I think that one can actually be found on the USFWS website, they funded the reserach.