Cistanche deserticola, also known as minced meat and Dayun, is the fleshy stem of Cistanche deserticola, Cistanche deserticola, Cistanche deserticola and other plants. It is a nourishing Chinese medicine and is known as "desert ginseng". Cistanche deserticola is warm, sweet, sour and salty, and enters the kidney and intestine. It has the effects of invigorating kidney, nourishing essence, moistening dryness and smoothing intestines. Can be used for treating male impotence, female infertility, leukorrhagia, metrorrhagia, cold pain in waist and knees, constipation due to blood deficiency, etc. In recent years, due to the shortage of medicinal resources, cistanche tubulosa has appeared in the market as cistanche tubulosa, so attention should be paid to identification when using it.

Authentic cistanche deserticola

The sweet cistanche deserticola is oblate, slightly curved at the end, about 10 ~ 30 cm long and about 3 ~ 6 cm in diameter. Its surface is grayish brown or brown, and it is densely covered with fleshy scales, which are arranged in bands. Hard, slightly tough, oily, not easy to break, brown section, with white cracks; The smell is mild and the taste is slightly sweet. Cistanche deserticola is irregular in shape, dark brown, soft in texture, with salt frost on the outside, slightly odorous, but salty in taste.

Fake cistanche deserticola

It has an irregular shape such as a flat cylinder, a flat spindle, a flat ellipse and a flat circle, with a length of 6-8 cm and a diameter of 4-6.5 cm. Its surface is reddish brown, grayish brown or brown, with many twists, and it is densely covered with fleshy scales, which is slightly arranged in a band. Dense on the top and sparse on the bottom, and the top of the scale is mostly damaged. The residue width is greater than 1cm, and the overall scale is slightly like the Yangtze River Delta. It is hard and heavy, has no toughness, and is not easy to break. The cross section is granular, mostly grayish brown, and some outer rings are black and hard gelatinous. Dark brown punctate vascular bundles are many, irregularly scattered, and some have small cracks; The smell is light and the taste is sweet and bitter.

Modern pharmacological studies have confirmed that authentic cistanche deserticola contains alkaloids, organic acids, sugars and crystalline neutral substances. Its water or ethanol extract has antihypertensive effect, and its effective components can promote saliva secretion. The counterfeit cistanche deserticola, although both belong to the family Orotaceae, is only used as daily necessities in Xinjiang, not included in the Pharmacopoeia of China, and does not fully have all the functions of genuine cistanche deserticola, so it cannot be used as a substitute for genuine cistanche deserticola.