Lipid and fatty acid compositions of the bound lipids in Panax quinquefolium (Korea, Japan and China), Panax quinquefolium (America, Canada) and Panax notoginseng (China) were studied by means of silicic acid column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography. The could lipid contents in various ginsengs were 0.29 to 0.48%, in which neutral lipid fractions were 63.6 to 67.3%, glycolipid fractions 21.9 to 25.7% and phospholipid fractions 7.7 to 12.4%. The content compositions of neutral lipid fractions were lower and those of glycolipid and phospholipid fractions were higher in the bound lipids than in the free lipids from the various ginseng. The major components were fatty acids, diglycerides and free sterols in neutral lipid fractions, monogalactosyl diglyceride, sterol glucoside and esterified steryl g1ycoside in glycolipid fractions and phosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidyl ethanolamine and phosphatidic acid in phosphoipid fractions. Seventeen fatty acids were analyzed in the four bound lipid fractions from the various ginsengs and main fatty acids were linoleic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid. Total saturated fatty acid and palmitic acid contents were higher and total unsaturated fatty acid and linoleic acid contents lower in the total bound lipids than in the total free lipids from the various ginsengs.