Panax


The Panax genus belongs to the Araliaceae family. Panax species are characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin. Panax is one of approximately 60 plant genera with a classical disjunct east Asian and east North American distribution. Furthermore, this disjunct distribution is asymmetric as only two of the ~18 species in genus are native to North America.

Etymology

The name Panax, meaning "all-healing" in Greek, shares the same origin as "panacea" and was used for this genus because Carl Linnaeus was aware of its wide use in Chinese medicine.

''Panax'' species

Genus Panax
Hybrids:Panax ginseng × Panax quinquifolius Panax japonicus f. typicum × ''Panax quinquifolius''

Phylogeny

Based on chloroplast genomes :
Note: Plants of the World Online treats P. major as a junior synonym of P. bipinnatifidus. Flora of China treats it as P. japonicus var. major.