Identification of American Ginseng: In flower

Ginseng reproduction is largely limited to seed production rather than vegetative spread. Flowering begins only after plants have matured to the two-prong stage.

Small, inconspicuous, whitish-green flowers appear on ginseng plants in umbelliform clusters (an umbel type inflorescence). The flowers are both self and cross-compatible---i.e., they may set fruit and seed without cross-pollination and fertilization from another plant. In the wild and in "gardens," there are many visitors to ginseng flowers. Some of the most common and likely visitors include small bees.

In Pennsylvania, plants generally flower over a period of 4-6 weeks from mid-June through late July. The flowers begin to open first around the outside of the ginseng flower cluster (inflorescence). There then follows a sequence in which flowers open and mature from the outside towards the inside of the cluster over time (centripetal inflorescence).

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