A genus of perennial herbs of eastern North America and Asia having aromatic tuberous roots: ginseng.

referring to a plant in the Aralia family, usually the genus _Panax_, which includes the Ginseng plant; "panax" comes from two Gr. words which mean "all- "afflictions," and the sense was (at least for Karl Linnaeus) that "ginseng" heals these diseases; (_Oreopanax_ = "mountain panax")