Panax japonicus var. japonicus(Japanese ginseng, "Tochibaninjin")
Japanese name: トチバニンジン（栃葉人参） Scientific name:Panax japonicus var. japonicus
[Overview]
A perennial 50–80 cm tall, found in mountain forests.
It has thick, white rhizomes with many nodes.
Three to five leaves are whorled at the stem tip; they are palmately compound, usually with 5 leaflets.
The leaflets are obovate, 10–30 cm long and 2–7 cm wide, with serrated margins.
The leaf stalk is 5–10 cm long.
A spherical umbel is borne at the tip of a long flower stalk.
The flowers are small, 3 mm across, and pale yellowish green with 5 petals.
The fruit is a spherical drupe about 6 mm across that ripens red.
[Uses]
The rhizome is used medicinally.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
It prefers partial shade to shade and fertile, slightly moist, well-drained soil.
Water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
[Notes]
The Japanese name derives from the leaves resembling those of the horse chestnut (Tochinoki).
