Is Codonopsis pilosula ginseng?

We all know that ginseng is a very nutritious food, and for many people, ginseng can also help them treat many diseases. Of course, there are many types of ginseng in our daily life, such as old mountain ginseng, American ginseng, etc. Some people found that Codonopsis pilosula was also included in some Chinese herbal medicines. So the question is, is Codonopsis pilosula really ginseng?

I believe everyone is very familiar with ginseng. So the question is, are ginseng and codonopsis the same? Some people know that the word "dang" in codonopsis refers to Shangdang in Shanxi, so they think that codonopsis is ginseng produced in Shangdang. If you think so then you are wrong. In fact, Codonopsis and ginseng are two different species. Codonopsis is the dried root of Codonopsis pilosula, Codonopsis pilosula or Codonopsis pilosula of the Campanulaceae family, while ginseng is the dried root of Panax ginseng of the Araliaceae family. The cultivated one is called "garden ginseng" and the wild one is called "mountain ginseng".

Ginseng tastes sweet, slightly bitter, and has a neutral nature. It enters the spleen, lung and heart meridians. It has the effects of replenishing vital energy, restoring pulse and strengthening deficiency, nourishing the spleen and lungs, promoting body fluid and calming the mind. It is used to treat symptoms such as physical weakness and imminent collapse, cold limbs and weak pulse, spleen deficiency and poor appetite, lung deficiency and wheezing and coughing, thirst due to loss of body fluids, internal heat and thirst, long-term illness and weakness, palpitations and insomnia, impotence and cold uterus, heart failure, and cardiogenic shock. The dosage for decoction is 3-9g. It can be decocted and added to soup for oral administration. If wild ginseng is ground into powder, it can be swallowed, 2g at a time, twice a day. In fact, ginseng has more functions than codonopsis.

1. It can greatly replenish the vital energy, restore the pulse and consolidate the body, and can treat the syndrome of extreme deficiency of vital energy and impending collapse. This effect is what people usually understand as ginseng's ability to save lives at critical moments. It includes critical symptoms such as depletion of human vitality, physical weakness, and weak pulse due to serious illness, long-term illness, severe vomiting and diarrhea, and severe blood loss. At this time, you can use ginseng alone for decoction, which is called single ginseng soup. It is used in combination with aconite to treat severe loss of vital energy, or sudden loss of yang energy due to metrorrhagia, with symptoms such as profuse sweating, shortness of breath, and weak pulse. Ginseng can also be used in combination with yin-nourishing drugs to treat qi and yin deficiency syndrome.

2. Nourish the spleen and lungs, and treat spleen and lung qi deficiency syndrome. Weak spleen symptoms include spleen insufficiency, fatigue, poor appetite and loose stools; shortness of breath and organ prolapse due to sinking of Qi in the middle; spleen deficiency leading to abnormal blood control and causing long-term bleeding; spleen deficiency and inability of Qi to produce blood, leading to deficiency of both Qi and blood, etc. Lung qi deficiency includes lung deficiency cough and asthma, excessive sputum, lung and kidney deficiency, and asthma due to kidney's failure to absorb qi. These symptoms can be treated by using ginseng in combination with other spleen and lung-strengthening drugs.