Jiao-gu-lan

Poor man's ginseng? Hmm... I might go as far as to call it wise man's ginseng.

Jiao-gu-lan supposedly contains 4 times the amount of adaptogens than either Chinese or American ginseng. I actually just got some American ginseng from my brother over the holidays, and can be saved for another post.

From my brief experience with this herb, it is quite sweet and can be great for the mind. The buzz, if any, could be described as a tea like buzz, but not from cafeine. I got a bag from TeaSpring a while back and recall it being quite good. I did not, however, want to keep buying the herb once I found out seeds are readily available.

I decided to buy seeds from Horizen Herbs, a company specializing in fresh, USDA organic seeds. They create all their own seeds and guarantee them fresh while in season. On the back of the package in the image above, it is stamped 2009. The proprietor also mentioned fresh Camellia Sinensis seeds are due soon.

This happy herb grows as a vine, and I think it would do quite well in a sunny window with some support stakes. Expect posts later this year on growing Jiao-gu-lan.