Cordyceps sinensis, also known as Cordyceps sinensis[1], Cordyceps sinensis, is a complex of the stroma and larvae corpses of the ergot fungus Cordyceps sinensis (Berk.) Sacc. It is parasitic on the larvae of moth insects. Cordyceps sinensis mainly grows on forest meadows or lawns at high altitudes; due to soil quality, the color of cordyceps sinensis growing on forest meadows is mainly dark yellow-brown, while that of cordyceps sinensis growing on grasslands is mainly yellow-brown; the former is Most of them are produced in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu, and the latter are mostly produced in Tibet and Qinghai. Regarding the growth of Cordyceps sinensis, most people find it mysterious. There was a poem by the predecessors: "Cordyceps sinensis lives up to its name, and changes to create a unified Qi." It is incredible that things can be both plants and animals. "In fact, Cordyceps sinensis is a combination of insects and fungi. The insect is the larvae of the Cordyceps bat moth, and the fungus is the Cordyceps fungus. In midsummer, on the snowy mountain meadows above 3,800 meters above sea level, the ice and snow melt, and the bat moth, which is small and flower-like, leaves thousands of eggs on the flowers and leaves. superior. Then the moth eggs turn into small insects, which burrow into the moist and loose soil, absorb the nutrients from the roots of the plants, and gradually make the body white and fat. At this time, the spherical ascospores encounter the Cordyceps bat moth larvae and penetrate into the insect body, attracting their nutrients and germinating mycelium. When the larvae of the Cordyceps bat moth eat leaves with Cordyceps fungus, they will also become Cordyceps.
The larvae infected by the fungus gradually wriggle to a distance of two to three centimeters from the surface, and die with their heads and tails down. This is the "winter worm". Although the larvae dies, the fungus inside the body grows day by day until it fills the entire insect body. In the late spring and early summer of the following year, a purple-red grass grows from the head of the insect, about two to five centimeters high, with a pineapple-shaped capsule at the top. This is the "summer grass". Cordyceps is the most fully developed at this time and has the highest active ingredients in the body. It is the best season for collection.