Panax notoginseng is a species of the genus Panax. The scientific names for the plant commonly used are either Panax notoginseng or Panax pseudoginseng. It is most commonly referred to as Notoginseng.

Notoginseng grows naturally in China and Japan. The herb is a perennial with dark green leaves branching from a stem with a red cluster of berries in the middle.

Like P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius and P. vietnamensis, notoginseng contains dammarane-type ginsenosides as the major constituents. Dammarane type ginsenosides includes 2 classifications: the 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (ppd) and 20(S)-protopanaxatriol (ppt) classifications. P. notoginseng contains high levels of Rb1, Rd (ppd classification) and Rg1 (ppt classification)ginsenosides. Rb1, Rd and Rg1 content of P. notoginseng is found to be higher than that of P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius in one study.