Today 90 percent of ginseng sold is grown on farms, though its pro duce is much less well regarded than the wild varieties. Wild ginseng is found mostly in China but its gradual disappearance has only made it more valuable. The search for new supplies has taken traders over the border in search of Russians willing to risk arrest by raiding private land growing transplanted wi ld ginseng grown from wild ginseng seeds, not from farm cultivated plants. This transplanted wild ginseng grows mostly in Russia, and its cost is around 10 percent of the wild Chinese variety, for which it is increasingly used as a substitute. As a result, it is now commonly known as Siberian ginseng.
Siberian ginseng is believed to be more effective and reliable.
In particular, Russian researchers note that Siberian ginseng is more useful for women, more effective in summer, more versatile as an enhancer of the human immune system and less likely to over- stimulate. Also, unlike ordinary ginseng, which has a characteristically earthy taste, Siberian ginseng has a pleasant woody taste that makes it well suited for use in herbal teas. Finally, Siberian ginseng has the unique advantage of being a renewable resource. While an ordinary ginseng plant dies when its single root is harvested, a Siberian ginseng plant, having an extensive root structure, can survive for many years despite annual harvest. Siberian ginseng grows best where the soil is organically rich and the air and water are free of pesticides and pollutants.