Ngoc Linh ginseng - a national treasure

Recently, the People's Committee of Kon Tum Province, in collaboration with Ngoc Linh Ginseng Joint Stock Company Kon Tum K5, organized the program "Going to the source" to express gratitude and honor the contributions of researchers, scientists, and other officials. Leaders over the years have made significant achievements in discovering Ngoc Linh ginseng since 1973.

The 50-year journey of discovering Ngoc Linh ginseng

Ngoc Linh ginseng mainly lives in the middle of the mountains in the Ngoc Linh range, often covered by clouds. In the past, the Xo Dang ethnic people only considered Ngoc Linh ginseng a hidden remedy.

When sick or bitten by snakes, people take Ngoc Linh ginseng to suck. The plant has a bitter taste and aroma; after using it, everyone is cured and feels healthy.

Mr. Dao Kim Long, former director of the Institute of Medicinal Materials Research and Testing Zone V, who discovered the first Ngoc Linh ginseng, said that the search for Ngoc Linh ginseng was started by him and his colleagues in October 1972.

After nearly half a year of walking through the forests, in March 1973, the group found this tree growing in a population at an altitude of 1,800 meters in the Ngoc Linh mountain range in Kon Tum province.

In Mr. Long's memory, before coming to Kon Tum to discover Ngoc Linh ginseng, he also learned about the ginseng families in the north, only to see that the three-way tree was similar to Ngoc Linh ginseng.

In June 1972, while attending a conference on precious medicinal plants of Vietnam, he learned that on the top of Ngoc Linh mountain, there is very special ginseng that can improve health and prevent disease very well.

Mr. Long recalled: "One day, my student accidentally touched off a tree and asked what it was. Seeing that, I just went back to dig up that tree and discovered there were tubers. Then, I brought it up to taste, and my senses told me this is very rare ginseng."

Many days of research later, Mr. Long identified Ngoc Linh mountain as the home of a new, scarce, and never-before-seen ginseng plant anywhere else in the world. Since then, pharmacist Long named ginseng Ngoc Linh, scientific name Panax Articulatus. After 12 years, internationally recognized and renamed Panax vietnamensis and I.V Grushvistky.

"Ngoc Linh ginseng usually grows from the top of Ngoc Linh mountain. Ngoc Linh Ginseng is rare and cannot be found anywhere. Taking Ngoc Linh ginseng to another place can still be grown, but the quality cannot be equal to when planted on Ngoc Linh mountain, "said Mr. Long.

Mr. Long said that after the rare Ngoc Linh ginseng was discovered, the Central Central Pharmaceutical Factory processed and made medicine to serve officials, soldiers, and people. Also, send samples to the Ministry of Health, Hanoi Institute of Medicinal Materials, for research.

According to the research results of the Center for Ginseng and Medicinal Materials of Ho Chi Minh City, Ngoc Linh ginseng contains 84 saponin compounds, of which many saponin compounds have new structures that have never appeared in other ginsengs. In addition to saponins, Ngoc Linh ginseng contains polyacetylene, fatty acids, amino acids, glucose, essential oils, and trace elements.

Proud of "national treasure" Ngoc Linh ginseng

50 scientific works have shown that Ngoc Linh ginseng has the effect of fighting against physical stress, psychological stress, and depression, stimulating the immune system, anti-oxidation, aging, cancer prevention, and protecting liver cells.

According to Mr. Long, Ngoc Linh ginseng has been honored as "Vietnam's National Treasure - A Great Thousand Treasure" and was tasked by Party and State leaders to develop into a national industry for people's livelihood.

"Currently, Ngoc Linh ginseng has developed brilliantly; with the support of businesses, products extracted from Ngoc Linh ginseng have reached many consumers. With the famous Ngoc Linh ginseng brand in the world, I hope that future generations will export more and more Ngoc Linh ginseng products so that all people across the five continents can know about Vietnam," said Mr. shall.

Mr. Tran Hoan, Chairman of Ngoc Linh Ginseng Joint Stock Company Kon Tum K5, said that in the 90s, Ngoc Linh ginseng was on the verge of extinction. He sought to preserve this precious medicinal plant most simply. Also, whenever he heard that a relative went to the forest to find ginseng, he came to buy it and plant it in the garden on the top of Ngoc Linh mountain, take care of the tree alive, and then take the seed to continue.

After 25 years, from the initial desire to keep a precious medicinal herb for the locality, the company's ginseng garden on the top of Ngoc Linh mountain has grown to thousands of hectares. Every year the company produces millions of seedlings to expand the area and supply to people in the region.

"Currently, Ngoc Linh ginseng is almost out of danger of extinction. However, we still have to put scientific applications into cultivation, such as temperature control and environment for Ngoc Linh ginseng to yield high quality. From there, proceed to produce goods, reduce product costs so that more Vietnamese people can widely use this quality ginseng, "said Mr.Hoan.

"Ngoc Linh ginseng is especially good for human health, so it has to reach out to the world. Like Korea, China has built its ginseng brand well and is known worldwide. Therefore, our goal is to inform the world about Ngoc Linh ginseng of Vietnam," said Mr. Tran Hoan.