Maryland bans ginseng hunting on state land

Maryland has banned ginseng hunting on state land, after the reported wild harvest dropped from 423 pounds in 1996 to 143 pounds in 2010, Michael Rosenwald reports for The Washington Post. (Post photo by Ricky Carioti: The most prized ginseng roots look like human limbs, because Chinese people believe, for instance, that eating a root that looks like a human leg cures a leg ailment.)

The medicinal herb, which has been picked to near extinction in China, has long been revered in the country, and "has become a hot energy-drink ingredient and a trendy remedy for all sorts of maladies," Rosenwald writes. With a $2 permit hunters can search for ginseng, with the plant often selling for more than $1,000 per pound.

Jonathan A. Mc­Knight, the state’s associate director for habitat conservation, who made the recommendation to ban ginseng hunting on state land, told Rosenwald, “Some of the prices for ginseng look now like the prices for illegal drugs. But we have a declining population. I think the stuff is declining so rapidly that there weren’t many years of traditional picking left.” (Read more)

Some may ask, why not just grow more ginseng to meet Chinese demand? That's no answer; the plant grows slowly, and domestically raised ginseng is an inferior product.