About a year ago I was discussing ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) with a well known botanist. He stated he only knew this, plant in its three-leaf form as most commonly described by the different text books. It is my opinion most botanists who have not had a wide field experience would not recognize the plant except in this one form. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the different forms, uses, and value of this plant. I am working from three text books. One of these says “The compound leaves are borne three in a circle”. The other two say essentially the same. Two of them state there are five leaflets to the leaf while the other states there may be three to seven.