The growth process of Cordyceps sinensis

At the height of summer every year, in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau above 3000 meters above sea level, an insect called Cordyceps sinensis bat moth enters the spawning period, and the small female adult bat moth lays tens of thousands of eggs on the ground vegetation. after a month or so of hatching, the moth eggs turn into small insects and then drill into the moist and loose soil and grow by sucking the nutrition of plant roots, gradually making the body white and fat.

There is a spherical ascospore of Cordyceps fungus in the soil layer. When the caterpillar fungus larva is attacked by the spores, the body begins to show pathological changes and then drills into the shallow layer of the ground, while the Cordyceps fungal spores continue to grow in the larva. The internal organs of the larvae are eroded little by little until they disappear, and finally die head up and tail down. At this time, the worm becomes a shell full of mycelium and buried in the soil layer. This is the "winter worm".

After a winter, to the next spring and summer, as the temperature gradually rises, the mycelium in the worm begins to grow again, and finally a purplish-red grass emerges from the mouth or head of the dead larva, usually about two to five centimeters long. there is a pineapple-shaped capsule at the top, which is called summer grass.

Finally, the body of the caterpillar fungus bat moth larva and the growing grass form a complete "Cordyceps sinensis".