Is Cordyceps really a worm in winter and grass in summer?

To put it simply, it is true that it is insects in winter and grass in summer. But why did it become an animal and then a plant? Regarding the growth of Cordyceps, most people feel mysterious about it, and there have been poems in the past

Cordyceps sinensis lives up to its name, and changes to generate a breath. One thing can be planted at the same time, and the physical faith in the world is difficult to end. "Actually, Cordyceps is a combination of insects and fungi.

The worm is the larva of the Cordyceps bat moth, and the fungus is the Cordyceps fungus. In the middle of summer, when the snow melts in the snow-capped mountains and meadows above sea level, the small bat moth leaves thousands of eggs on the flowers and leaves. Then the moth eggs become small insects, burrow into the moist and loose soil, absorb the nutrients of the plant rhizomes, and gradually raise the body to be white and fat.

At this time, the spherical ascospores encounter the fungus bat moth larvae, and burrow into the body of the insect to attract nutrients and germinate hyphae. Cordyceps bat moth larvae also become Cordyceps when they feed on leaves with Cordyceps fungus. Fugal-infected larvae gradually wriggle to a distance of two to three centimeters from the surface, where they die on their heads and tails.

This is the "winter worm". Although the larvae die, the fungus grows day by day until it fills the entire body. In the late spring and early summer of the following year, a small purple-red grass grows on the head of the insect, about 2 to 5 centimeters high, with a pineapple-shaped sac shell at the top, which is called "summer grass".

Cordyceps is the most fully developed at this time, and the active ingredients in the body are the highest, which is the best season for collection. Qinghai, Diqing and Nujiang Prefectures in Yunnan Province are one of the main producing areas of Cordyceps in China.

Cordyceps sinensis, also known as Cordyceps sinensis and Cordyceps, is a fungus of the ergomyceae family, Cordyceps sinensis (berk）sacc.A complex of sub-seats and larval carcasses parasitic on larvae of larvae of the family Mothidae.

It is a complex of larval carcasses of the ergot family plant Cordyceps sinensis and its host, insects of the bat moth family, Cordyceps bat moth, etc. Cordyceps sinensis ascomycetes are derived from the head of the host larvae, solitary, elongated as a baseball bat, 3 11 cm long; sterile stalk 3 8 cm long, diameter mm; the upper part is the head of the substellar, slightly enlarged, cylindrical, centimeter long, brown, with the exception of the small part of the apex, densely numerous ascomycetes; The ascomycetes are mostly trapped in the sub-base, the apex protrudes beyond the sub-base, ovate or elliptic, 250 500 μm long, 80 200 μm in diameter, and each ascomycete contains many long linear ascomycetes; Each ascomycete contains 8 ascospores with a septum. The host is the larvae of insects such as Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, and the hyphae invade the larvae that live in the soil in winter, so that the insect body is full of hyphae and dies.

In summer, it grows a subordinate.

Summary. Cordyceps sinensis is a worm in winter and "grass" in summer because Cordyceps sinensis (Cordyceps sinensis) enters the body of the larvae to absorb its nutrients in winter or before winter, and after summer, the nutrients in the larvae are absorbed, and because the climate at this time is more suitable, the Cordyceps fungus will break out and form Cordyceps.

Why Cordyceps is a worm in winter and grass in summer.

Cordyceps sinensis is a worm in winter and "grass" in summer because Cordyceps sinensis (Cordyceps sinensis) enters the body of the larvae to absorb its nutrients in winter or before winter, and after summer, the nutrients in the larvae are absorbed, and because the climate at this time is more suitable, the Cordyceps fungus will break out and form Cordyceps. Thank.

<> Cordyceps sinensis is generally in the state of insects in winter. Cordyceps sinensis fungus enters the body of the larvae to absorb its nutrients in winter or before winter, and after summer, the nutrients in the larvae are absorbed, and due to the more suitable climate at this time, the cordyceps fungus will break out and eventually form Cordyceps.

01 Cordyceps sinensis is neither a worm nor a grass, but a fungus or fungus, which is a composite object formed by the fungus Cordyceps sinensis fungus parasitic on the body of the larvae of the bat moth family.

Cordyceps sinensis is a traditional and precious Chinese medicinal material in China, which is known as the "Three Treasures of Traditional Chinese Medicine" together with ginseng and deer antler, and has high medicinal and scientific research value. It is recorded in the "Outer Edition of Willow Cliff": "There is Cordyceps sinensis in southern Yunnan, and there is also one thing.

In winter, it is insects, and in summer it is grass. The shape of the insect resembles a silkworm, the color is slightly yellow, and the grass shape resembles a leek with thinner leaves. "It's a strange name, it sounds like it's half worm and half grass.

So is Cordyceps sinensis a cordycep or a grass?

Actually, Cordyceps sinensis is not an insect, not a grass, but a fungus.

Cordyceps sinensis is the mycelium of the Cordyceps sinensis fungus that infects the larvae of bat moths in various ways, enters these eggs, and uses the organic matter in its body as nutrient energy ** for parasitic life, after continuous growth, development and differentiation, the insect body dies, but the appearance of the insect remains intact, and it looks like a "worm" at this time.

Amazingly, in the summer, the mycelium twists and forms a grass-like sub-seat that sticks out of the host, which is the one we see growing in front of the Cordyceps, which is the summer grass. When the fungus is first unearthed, the leaf buds of the head of the fungus rod subset contain the seeds of Cordyceps sinensis, the seeds of the reproductive offspring of Cordyceps, the ascospores, and the ascomycetes will again look for the larvae of the bat moth, so that it completes its own growth cycle.