Identification of the Age of Fresh Ginseng Root According to Number of Stem Vestiges in Rhizome

This experiment was conducted to find identification of ginseng root's age using the number of stem vestiges in rhizome. The number of stem vestiges in rhizome is a useful key to confirm the age of ginseng root as follow : 4-year-old root has two, 5-year-old root has three, 6-year-old root has four. The distribution of stem vestiges in rhizome each year root are as follow : 2 stem vestiges in 4-year-old root is 89.5%, 3 stem vestiges in 5-year-old root is 79.7%, 4 stem vestiges in 6-year-old root is 46.3%. However, the limiting factors of identification of ginseng root's age using the number of stem vestiges in rhizome is appearance of multi-stem per plant and appearance of destroyed stem vestige in rhizome. The ratio of appearance of multi-stem per plant and destroyed stem vestige in rhizome are increased according to root age.