In the past five years, a ginseng wine has been brewing in a glass jar, and something unusual has happened—five green leaves have sprouted from the ginseng. This mysterious phenomenon caught the attention of Rushan resident Song Yu, who recently shared the story with a reporter. On the morning of the 23rd, Song Yu showed the reporter the strange ginseng at his home. The ginseng was stored in a clear glass bottle, and through the transparent container, it was clearly visible that five pale green leaves had grown from the cross-section of the root. Song explained that five years ago, his brother brought two dried ginsengs from Yantai—one for their father and one for him. He placed his ginseng into a glass jar and soaked it in 47-degree Luzhou Laojiao liquor. Alongside the ginseng, he added some traditional herbs like velvet and scorpion. At the time, there were no stems or leaves on the ginseng. "Since none of us in the family enjoy drinking alcohol, the ginseng remained untouched in the jar for years," Song said. "We only noticed the leaves six months ago when my wife was organizing the wine cabinet. She found the ginseng had sprouted, but we didn’t take it seriously at first." Interestingly, this is not the first time such an event has occurred. Earlier this month, CCTV-10's "Into the Science" program featured a similar case in Laiyang City, where a 26-year-old ginseng in wine had also sprouted leaves. This raised many questions for Song. "How can ginseng grow leaves in a sealed, oxygen-deprived environment?" he wondered. He called his father to check whether the same thing had happened with his ginseng, but his father confirmed it hadn’t. Now, Song hopes to get a scientific explanation for this phenomenon through the Evening News. He is open to handing over the ginseng to research institutions if a credible explanation is provided. For now, the mystery continues, and the ginseng remains a fascinating curiosity in his home.

Clostridium Butyricum

C. butyricum, a butyrate-producing, spore-forming anaerobic bacterium, is found in a wide variety of environments, including soil, cultured milk products, and vegetables. It is also present in the human gut: it is detected in 10–20% of the adult human population and is often one of the earliest colonizers in infants. In the human gut, where it is considered a ‘symbiont (living together with the host), C. butyricum has a fermentative lifestyle and can consume undigested dietary fibers and generate short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), specifically butyrate and acetate. Butyrate is one of the dominant fermentation end-products and is produced by C. butyricum via the butyrate kinase (buk) pathway. SCFAs produced by microbial organisms in the colon are known to have myriad and important effects on host health, including modulating intestinal immune homeostasis, improving gastrointestinal barrier function, and alleviating inflammation. As such, butyrate-producing organisms like C. butyricum have become attractive candidates to test for beneficial effects in a host. Genomic analyses are increasingly identifying novel bacterial strains with health-promoting potential that are distinct from classic probiotics (Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria).

butyrate, immunity, intestinal barrier, inflammation

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