Japanese ginseng

Panax japonicum C. A. Meyer Zhu Je Seng (Japanese ginseng) (rhizome) Saponins including chikusetsa saponin and chikusetsa saponin IV, ginsenoside R0.25-33 A stimulant, tonic, expectorant. 

Panax japonicus japanese ginseng (plus four sub species) Chu-chieh-jen-shen Japan... 

Korean ginseng, Asian ginseng, Oriental ginseng, Chinese ginseng (Muller and Clauson, 1998), Japanese ginseng, American ginseng (Awang, 1991)... 

Common/vernacular names Chinese ginseng, Korean ginseng, Japanese ginseng (P. ginseng)-. Western ginseng P. quinquefolius)-, seng and sang. 

Japanese ginseng (P. japonicus), widely distributed in Japan. 

Shibata S, Fujita M, Itokawa H, Tanaka O. Studies on the constituents of Japanese and Chinese crude drugs. XL Panaxadiol, a sapogenin of Ginseng roots. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1963 1 759. Shibata S. Chemistry and cancer preventing activities of ginseng saponins and some related triterpenoid compounds. J. Korean Med. Sci. 2001 16(suppl S) S28-S37. 

As regards the chemical constituents of Panax spp., the presence of saponins in American Ginseng was reported as early as 1854 (7). Since the beginning of this century, a number of Japanese, European and Korean chemists have concerned themselves with isolation and structure elucidation of Ginseng saponins these include Asahina (2), Kondo (i), Kotake (4 Wagner-Jauregg (5), Horhammer (6) and their coworkers. However, even the basic skeleton of the major sapogenin was not characterized until 1960. 

P.japonicus C. A. Meyer = P.pseudo-ginseng Wall, suhsp. japonicus (Meyer) Hara (79) [Japanese name Chikusetsu-ninjin or Tochiba-ninjin, Chinese name Zhujie-shen, Zhao-shen or Zhujie-sanchi, wild throughout Japan and also in southern China (50)]... 

A Chinese-Japanese cooperative chemical study 104) of the rhizomes of this plant from Zhaotong, Yunnan at 2100m led to isolation of the oleanolic acid saponins, G-IV, C-IVa, and C-V in yields of 3.4, 2.8, and 3.1%. In this respect, then Zhujie-shen is very similar to Japanese Chikusetsu-ninjin. However, the composition of the dammarane saponin fraction of Zhujie-shen which consisted of Rd (0.04% yield). Re (0.12%), Rgi(0.15%), Rg (0.05%), NG-R2(0.02%, see Chapter VIII-2, Table II) and pseudo-ginsenoside-Fii (PG-Fn, 0.04%, an ocotillol-type saponin from leaves of Himalayan Panax and also from leaves of American Ginseng, see Chapter IX-2), was significantly different from that of the Japanese plant. 

Shibata, S., M. Fujita, H. Itokawa, O. Tanaka, and T. Ishii Studies on the Constituents of Japanese and Chinese Crude Drugs XL Panaxadiol, a Sapogenin of Ginseng Roots (1). Chem. Pharm. Bull. (Japan) 11, 759 (1963). 

Shibata S, Fujita M, Itokawa H, Tanako O, Ishii T (1963) Studies on the constitutmts of Japanese and Chinese Crude Drugs. XI. Panaxadiol, a sapogenin of ginseng roots. (1). Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 11 759-761... 

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