A few months ago, I filmed a video on a special plant: American ginseng.

Since then, a lot of people have reached out with some variation of the same question:

Why is wild ginseng so hard to find?

“I know what it looks like,” they say. “I know what its look-alikes look like. I think I’m in the right kind of woods, but I can’t find it anywhere.”

Well, to tell you the truth, I left out some important information in that first video. I didn’t really explain why this plant remains so elusive, despite its broad range and lengthy lifespan.

To answer that properly, I decided to go back into the woods (during the height of a larval tick explosion) to film a follow-up.

In this brand-new video, I share the missing pieces of a fascinating story rarely discussed in ecological circles.

And I’m curious: Have you seen any wild ginseng lately?

— Adam Haritan