Siberian Ginseng

In the forests of the Russian Far East and northeastern China, eleuthero's gnarled, spiny roots were dug and simmered into tonics meant to help the body cope with cold, hunger, and hard labor. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have long known it as ci wu jia, using it to fortify qi and support vitality much as they used its costlier cousin, Panax ginseng. It entered Western herbalism in the twentieth century, when Soviet researchers studying folk tonics popularized eleuthero as a cheaper, more sustainable adaptogen, and it was famously given to factory workers, soldiers, and Olympic athletes to help them handle exertion and stress. That history earned it a lasting place as one of the great steadying roots of the herbal world.