Breeding projects on poorly defined species tend to focus on total constituent content by class of compounds or on gross agronomic characters like bulk dry weight yield, uniformity of growth and maturation. In rough order of importance commercially, I would like to walk you through our fields of medicinal herbs. These are by no means of only herbs that are or could be grown in Canada commercially. Three species are grown, but no improved varieties are yet available. Panax quinquefolius is the American ginseng which is now the biggest commercial herb crop in Canada in terms of revenue.
Panax ginseng is the most common Asiatic ginseng grown in China and Korea.
Because most of the market for ginseng roots is still in the Orient, there is little demand for North American grown P. ginseng since it is generally assumed that the Orient will supply the market and that North American-grown roots would not meet quality expectations. Seeds have been in very short supply the past four years because of the infrastructural chaos in the former Soviet Union, but supplies are improving with the availability of Chinese seeds. All ginseng species require stratification to break seed dormancy. Typically, the Panax species are sold as stratified seeds while Siberian ginseng is sold as dry seed. Three species are in commerce.