“Dong Chong Xia Cao” is
also named “Dong Chong Cao” ——“Chong Cao”
冬虫夏草
for short in Chinese ,it is
the complex of the body of worm and fungus
formed by the caterpillar fungus of “ Hirsutella
hepiali Chen et Shen” parasitized on the bat
moth larva. China is the only one who possesses
it ,merely distributed on high mountain meadow
region and the high mountain shrubs above sea
level 3500—5000, and Qinghai is the chief
growing area of Chinese caterpillar funguses .
Since “Hirsutella hepiali Chen et Shen”are
merely parasitized on the bat moth larva, the
two parts depend on each other, or they can’t
grow. It is precious and rare lowing to their
peculiar ecological habits and properties. In
August and September of the year the ascusspores
of “Hirsutella hepiali Chen et Shen” become
mature, fall scattered on the surface of the
earth through the shell of ascus, and go into
the ground with the rainwater.
In the appropriate environment, spores can
germinate and grow branch-shape sprout tube;
when encountering the bat moth larvae, they
simply invade their bodies and suck up the
nutrition there and grow into hyphae, till the
larva become rigid and dead at last, heads of
the worms grow short and small stromata before
the earth is frozen; at this time the worms
bodies are so-called, “DongChong”; In April and
Mayof the following year the stromata grow out
of the earth at the daily speed of about 4
millimeters ,and will not grow high when they
are 20-50mm out of the lands. In the
middle——last ten days of June, the head of the
tromata gradually take shape the shell of spores
and in the last ten days of July, ascusspore
take shape; till August and September of the
year, the ascusspore become mature one by one;
the parts of stromata out of the land are
so-called “Xia Cao”; so they got the name. The
full plants are dugout when they do not fall
apart, aired dry with impurity removed, and
become precious. Chinese traditional medicinal
herbs .If they falls scattered, the ascusspores
start starts their new life, now the underground
worms bodies change into empty and solft, and
loose its medicinal value.
Chinese caterpillar fungus is a species of
caterpillar fungus genus. It is reported that
there are more than 300 species of caterpillar
fungus genus all over the earth, and that in
China exist almost 90.The known epiphytes can be
parasitized on the caterpillars chrysalises,
adults even on the cocoons of the insects, the
caterpillar funguses display various forms.
Hence “ChongCao” is only the general term of
caterpillar fungus genus, except for Chinese
caterpillar fungus, the others can not be called
“Dong Chong Xia Cao”.
It has been more than a thousand years since
the Chinese nation knew and began to study
caterpillar funguses, 《Great Dictionary of
Chinese Materia Medica》 says: Our country
formally took caterpillar funguses as the
medicinal
刚长出地表的冬虫夏草的子座
materials in Yongzheng’s or
Qianlong’s Dynasty. Materia Mdeiea together with
ginseng and young pilous antler are famed as
three major note-dear and Chinese tonic-nourshing
herbalt medicines in China, entitled “King of
All Herbal Medicines”, and called “top-grade
medicine for all the sapless and the impaired”
by physicians of the past ages. In the ancient
time, more than 70 Chinese medicine literatures
summarizes its effect: able to nourish both Yin
and yang’ to cure cough and midriff disease, to
nurse all the sapless and the impaired; its
efficacy is similar with that of ginseng and
young pilous antler, but its property is mild,
and appropriate for all the old, young, sick and
weak…….
《Pharmacopoeia of People’s Republic of China》
characterizes its efficacy as “of nourishing
lungs and kidneys, of stanching bleeding and
reducing phlegm, of curing long-term cough and
asthma, coughing blood caused by fatigue,
impotence and emission, and relieving aching
waist and knee.” The Chinese caterpillar fungus
is sweet in flavor, mild but not dry in property
tonic-nourishing but not stagnant. Its medical
value ranges more widely than that’s of other
kinds of Chinese traditional tonic medicines
with no side effects.Following further research,
its effect is more and more wide-ranging, which
attracts much attention of the pharmacological
circles both at home and abroad, The
contemporary pharmacological research shows: In
addition to the traditional efficacies of
strengthening the healthy basis, nourishing and
building up. The body, the Chinese caterpillar
fungus still possesses the effects. Of arresting
bleeding reducing, blood pressure and blood
grease, improving myocardium lacking blood,
resisting blood platelet coagulation ageing,
kidney failure, convulsion, rejection, lung
cancer, lymph cancer, nose caneer, blood cancer,
liver cancer, and of strengthening the organic
immunity.
Along with the further reorganization of the
medical value of the Chinese caterpillar
funguses, the demand of them assumes ascending
tendency year by year. But owing to the
limitation of the caterpillar fungus resources,
over excavation, and environmental protection
etc, their yield otherwise develops in the
opposite direction. The contradion between
supply and demand causes the selling price of
the caterpillar fungus to risen from RMB 20/kg
in 1980s of 20th century to RMB 30000/kg at the
moment. This expensive seeling price makes it a
luxur for ordinary people to adopt the
caterpillar funguses for health care and curing
diseases. At the same time, there appears false
caterpillar funguses on the market, so that the
ordinary consumers have difficulties in
differentiating them. How to increase the
caterpillar fungus yield and meet the demand has
become the focus of the whole nation. The
tremendous market demand leads to wide
developing perspective and limitless business
opportunity, and attracts as well numerous
scientific research units and enterprises to
join in the group of artificially cultivating
Chinese caterpillar funguses.
English
冬虫夏草