The selection of seed stem is the key to planting Pinellia ternata.

March-April every year is the best season for planting Pinellia ternata, and selecting the seed stem of Pinellia ternata is the basis for successful planting and high yield; Special attention should be paid to correctly understanding the difference between Pinellia ternata and Arisaema, Pinellia ternata and Pinellia ternata, because the tubers of these three plants are easy to confuse in appearance and morphology, and it is difficult for professionals to distinguish them. Don't buy the wrong seed stem of Pinellia ternata and plant the wrong medicine, which will cost both money and energy. Therefore, Shandong Heze City Runkang Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine reminds farmers that when planting or purchasing pinellia ternata seed stems, attention should be paid to the following aspects.

First, the high-quality pinellia seed stem used for seed must be artificially cultivated and selected.(Wild without domestication can not be used as seed); Pinellia seed stem size of about 1.3 cm (large pinellia tuber seed stem as seed, large investment, small expansion coefficient, easy to rot disease; small bulbils as seed stem leaf stem hair less); narrow leaf pinellia tuber or willow leaf pinellia tuber (strong resistance, high yield, good quality) strain; selected from plots where rot disease did not occur in the planting field of pinellia tuber last year (pinellia tuber seed stem selected in the field where disease occurred, its seed stem itself carries germs, can not be used as seed).

Second, select the pinellia seed stem, immediately dry the skin, and properly preserve, during the preservation period should pay attention to control the temperature of 2-6 degrees and humidity of 60%(temperature over 8 degrees germination, 0 degrees below freezing damage); before sowing to go through drug treatment (Pinellia seed stem growing in the field contains bacteria and larvae).

Third, when buying pinellia seed stems, we must distinguish between Rhizoma Arisaematis (also known as Pinellia ternata) and Rhizoma Pinellia ternata, because they are all Araceae plants, similar in appearance, easy to confuse, these three plants, the market price difference is relatively large. Their characteristics are described below for reference.

1. Characteristics of Pinellia ternata: Pinellia ternata is round in appearance, especially round at the bottom, evenly distributed bud eyes (root marks), slightly delicate bud stems, small pinellia ternata seed stems and bulbils after emergence of 1-3 leaves, later with the expansion of pinellia ternata seed stems, gradually form three compound leaves, medium or large pinellia ternata seed stems emergence will appear three compound leaves, regardless of size pinellia ternata maximum of three compound leaves, and each leaf stem will form a bulbils (individual strains also have bulbils on the leaves); More than three leaves, no bulbils are not pinellia ternata. Except for **, Xizang, Heilongjiang and some other provinces and regions, it is distributed in all parts of the country.

2. Characteristics of Arisaema: The appearance of Arisaema is flat, especially the flat bottom, which is the small Arisaema that is most easily confused with Pinellia ternata. The bottom is not very round, and the bud stem is thick, dark green in color and high in fullness. Most tubers will be divided into many small tubers around or on the upper part; After tuber emergence, according to tuber size, 1-11 compound leaves appear, and there are cracks on the edge of leaves, large and thin. The whole plant grows vigorously, but there are no bulbils, which is the main characteristic of Arisaema. Main producing area, north China, northeast and southwest.

3. Characteristics of Pinellia ternata: tubers conical, elliptical or obovate, with dense fleshy fibrous roots on the upper part. Leaves broadly sheathed below middle; leaf blade haldate-oblong, anterior lobes larger, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, lateral lobes smaller, oblong; but without bulbils. Main production Guangxi, Jiangxi and other parts of the region.

Runkang Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Heze City, Shandong Province Li Hongjun Tel: 0530-3978801

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