Ginsenosides or
panaxosides are a class of
natural product steroid glycosides and
triterpene saponins. Compounds in this family are found almost exclusively in the plant genus
Panax (ginseng), which has a long history of use in
traditional medicine that has led to the study of
pharmacological effects of ginseng compounds. As a class, ginsenosides exhibit a large variety of subtle and difficult-to-characterize biological effects when studied in isolation.