Cordyceps sinensis, scientific name of traditional Chinese medicine. It is a complex of the stroma of Cordyceps sinensis, an ergot plant, parasitic on the larvae and carcasses of Hepialidae.
It consists of worms and fungal matrix growing from the head. The worm is like a silkworm, with a body length of 3-5cm, a diameter of 3-8 mm, a dark brown to yellowish brown surface with 20-30 ring lines, and the ring lines near the head are thinner. The head is reddish brown, with 8 pairs of feet and 4 pairs in the middle. Fragile, easily broken, slightly flat section, yellow and white. Daughter seat is solitary, slender and round, 4-7 cm long and about 3 mm in diameter; The face is dark brown to brown, with fine longitudinal wrinkles, the upper part is slightly enlarged, and there is no obvious difference between the head and the handle; The material is flexible and the cross section is white.
Among them, completely wild Cordyceps sinensis can be divided into Qinghai grass (meaning produced in Qinghai province), Tibetan grass (meaning produced in Xizang Autonomous Region), Sichuan grass (meaning produced in Sichuan province), Yunnan grass, Gansu grass, furnace grass and shrub grass. Among them, Qinghai and Tibet are the most precious. Cordyceps sinensis are all wild and grow on the grass slope near the snow line above the alpine grassland shrub belt at an altitude of 3000 meters to 5000 meters.
Around the summer solstice, when the snow has not melted, it is collected in the mountains. At this time, most of the seeds are exposed on the snow. If it's too late, the snow melts and weeds grow, it's hard to find that the insects in the soil wither and are not suitable for medicine. After digging, when the insects are wet, remove the outer soil and membrane and dry them in the sun. Or spray yellow wine to soften it, straighten it, and tie it into small sticks with red lines every 7 ~ 8; Dry with low heat.