Arts & Life

American Ginseng

Montana Public Radio | By Beth Anne Austein

Published June 21, 2014 at 5:00 AM MDT

6/21/14: This week on "The Plant Detective:" Even today, many elderly Chinese still prefer a good ginseng root to health insurance. American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is used to aid digestion, treat diabetes, boost immunity, and balance qi, or life energy. More beneficial uses are part of traditional Chinese (and American Indian) medicine, and even more are under investigation. But in the wild, this valued plant is endangered; it matures slowly, and the combination of disappearing habitat, hungry deer, and overharvesting have taken a big toll. If you use American ginseng, make sure it's either cultivated, or ethically gathered.

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Beth Anne Austein

Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.

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