Pressed herbarium specimen of American ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, from the herbarium of Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

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Christopher Parsons

Associate Professor of History · Northeastern University

Panax quinquefolium L. — the ginseng of Lafitau's Lettres édifiantes et curieuses. Herbier de Jussieu, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

c.parsons [at] northeastern.edu · Department of History · Northeastern University · Boston

Full-resolution view of the ginseng specimen sheet. The mounted note, in eighteenth-century hand, cites the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses.
Panax quinquefolium L. — Herbier d'Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. The mounted note cites the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, through which Lafitau announced his discovery of ginseng in New France.