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Wild American ginseng grows in the northeast U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. it is found from Michigan and Wisconsin, south to northern Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Oklahoma. A heavy concentration lies in the Appalachian mountains, although wild American ginseng is considered endangered. Ginseng was valued by the native American Indians long before the white men began to popularize it. It gained wide acclaim in the 1700s, when a French Jesuit priest returned to Paris with a sample he had found in southern Canada. Sensing the potential profits from the plant, Jesuits sent missionaries to Canada to find more of it, and for several years the Jesuits shipped tons of American ginseng to China. In 1784 George Washington reported meeting pack horses carrying ginseng. Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett are said to have made large sums of money in ginseng trafficking. American ginseng became a lucrative crop, and not unlike the gold during the gold rush of California, the wild ginseng was almost wiped out along the Eastern seaboard due to overharvesting. Ginseng's botanical name, Panax, is derived from the Greek word "panakos", or "panacea". American ginseng is considered to have more cooling properties than its Asian counterparts. It is only used after the roots are at least four years old. Despite its being very difficult to cultivate, some farmers have succeeded. Eighty percent of U.S. ginseng is grown in Marathon County, Wisconsin. Most American ginseng is exported to Asian countries. Some of it, of course, is purchased by us.
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