What is poria cocos?

Poria cocos, commonly known as Yunling, Pine Ling and Poria Ling, are mushroom plants parasitic on the root of pine trees, shaped like sweet potatoes with dark brown skin and white or pink inside. Its original organism is the dry sclerotia of Poria cocos, a fungus of Polyporaceae, mostly parasitic on the roots of Pinus massoniana or Pinus massoniana, produced in Yunnan, Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Sichuan and other places. More than July to September mining, after digging out to remove sediment, pile "sweating", spread out to the surface dry, and then "sweating", repeated to appear wrinkles, most of the internal moisture lost after drying, known as "Poria cocos". Or fresh Poria cocos are cut according to different parts and dried in the shade, which are called "Poria cocos blocks" and "Poria cocos slices" respectively.

The mycelium of Poria cocos includes uninucleate and binuclear mycelium, which is also called primary mycelium, which is formed by the germination of Poria cocos spores and exists only in the early stage of germination. Binuclear mycelium, also known as secondary mycelium, is the main form of mycelium, which is formed by the meeting of two uninucleate mycelia of different genders. The appearance of the mycelium is white fluffy and has a unique multi-concentric ring colony. Under the microscope, it can be seen that the mycelium is composed of many branched hyphae. The mycelium is divided into linear cells by the diaphragm, which is about 2 to 5 microns wide. The lock-like union phenomenon is often seen at the top.

Poria cocos sclerotia is a dormant body closely gathered by a large number of hyphae and nutrients, spherical, ellipsoidal, oblate or irregular block, the small is two, the big is several jin, tens of jin, soft when fresh, easy to fold, hard and not easy to break after dry. The outer layer of sclerotia is shell-shaped, the surface is rough and tumor-like, light brown or brown when fresh, black-brown after drying, and white and light brown inside the skin. Under the microscope, the hyphae in the white part of the sclerotia were mostly in the shape of lotus root nodes or extruded clumps. There are slender and dense light brown hyphae near the skin.

The fruiting body of Poria cocos is usually produced on the surface of sclerotia, occasionally on the older mycelium, honeycomb, different size, sessile procumbent, about 0.3 cm thick. It is white at first and becomes yellowish when it grows old. The seed layer is planted on the inner surface of the hole tube and is composed of a large number of burdens. The mature basidium produces 4 spores (basidiospores). Poria cocos spore gray-white, long oval or subcylindrical, with a crooked tip, 6 × 2.5 ~ 11 × 3.5 microns.

Poria cocos have a sweet and light taste, entering the heart, lung and spleen meridians, with the effects of permeating dampness and diuresis, invigorating the spleen and stomach, calming the heart and calming the mind, and can treat adverse urination, edema and fullness, phlegm cough, vomiting, evil obstruction, diarrhea, spermatorrhea, turbid, palpitation, forgetfulness and other diseases. The ancients called Poria cocos "04:00 divine medicine" because it has a wide range of efficacy, regardless of the four seasons, it is compatible with all kinds of drugs, regardless of cold, temperature, wind, dampness, etc. Can play its unique role.