Excised cotyledon segments of ginseng zygotic embryos at various developmental stages were cultured on MS basal medium from which somatic embryos were directly induced. The frequency of somatic embryo formation on the segments declined with the advancing zygotic embryo maturity. All of the cells in the cotyledons of immature zygotic embryos were smaller and more densely cytoplasmic than those in mature embryos. Histological examinations revealed that the poly-somatic embryos formed on immature embryos were of multi-cell originand derived from the epidermal and subepidermal cell layers. However, in the cotyledon of germinating zygotic embryos, only theepidermal cells were densely cytoplasmic and singularly competent to develop into somatic embryos resulting into single embryos at a frequency of 100%.