Is Cordyceps sinensis a worm or a grass?

Cordyceps sinensis is a kind of precious nourishing medicine commonly used by the people in our country, which can be used as medicine or edible. It can enhance the immunity of the body, nourish the lung and kidney, and has obvious inhibitory effect on lung cancer and liver cancer. In clinic, it has curative effect on lung deficiency, chronic cough, asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, hemoptysis, night sweats, kidney deficiency, waist and knee pain, impotence and spermatorrhea. Let's take a look at whether Cordyceps sinensis is a worm or grass.

Is Cordyceps sinensis a worm or a grass?

Cordyceps sinensis is a worm or a grass calendar to argue for people, some people say it is an animal, but it has a grass on its head, some people say it is a plant, but its main part is a worm. In fact, Cordyceps sinensis is a combination of insects and fungi. The larvae of a green bat moth resemble yellow silkworms and hibernate underground every year after autumn. At this time, Cordyceps sinensis invades the insect body and absorbs nutrients from the insect body for a living. At the same time, the mycelium grows continuously, which eventually leads to the death of the larvae, and then the skin of the insect body is gradually filled with hyphae and sclerotia. By the turn of spring and summer of the following year, a new life "son" shaped like a baseball ball, copper or brown grew from the head of the worm and broke out of the ground, so people mistakenly thought it was a grass.

How is Cordyceps sinensis formed?

The worm of Cordyceps sinensis is the larva of Cordyceps bat moth and the fungus is Cordyceps fungus. Whenever the snow melts on the snow-capped mountain meadow above 3800 meters above sea level in midsummer, the small bat moth leaves thousands of eggs on the flowers and leaves. Then the moth eggs turn into worms, drill into the moist and loose soil, absorb the nutrients of the plant roots, and gradually make the body white and fat. At this time, the spherical ascospores encounter the caterpillar fungus bat moth larvae, then drill into the interior of the insect body, absorb its nutrients, and germinate the hyphae. The larvae infected by fungi gradually wriggle to two to three centimeters from the surface and die above the head and tail. This is the "winter worm." Although the larvae are dead, the fungi in the body grow day by day until they fill the whole insect body. in late spring and early summer, a purplish-red grass grows on the head of the worm, which is about two to five centimeters high, with a pineapple-shaped capsule at the top. This is "summer grass."

What is the effect of Cordyceps sinensis?

1. Regulating immune function: Cordyceps sinensis can not only increase the number of cells and tissues in the immune system, but also reduce the function of some immune cells.

2. Anti-tumor effect: Cordyceps sinensis contains cordycepin is the main anti-tumor component, which is often used as an adjuvant in the treatment of malignant tumors.

3. The effect of relieving fatigue: Cordyceps sinensis can increase the energy of human mitochondria and improve the cold tolerance of the body, thus reducing fatigue.

4. Regulating heart function: Cordyceps sinensis can improve the heart's ability to endure hypoxia, reduce the heart's oxygen consumption and resist arrhythmia.

5. Regulating liver function: Cordyceps sinensis can reduce the damage of toxic substances to the liver, and also play a beneficial role in viral hepatitis.

6. Respiratory system regulation: Cordyceps sinensis can reduce the liver damage caused by toxic substances, and can also play a beneficial role in viral hepatitis.

7. Regulating renal function: Cordyceps sinensis can reduce the renal pathological changes of chronic diseases, improve renal function and reduce the damage of toxic substances to the kidney.

8. Regulating hematopoietic function: Cordyceps sinensis can enhance the ability of bone marrow to produce platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells.

9. Regulating the function of blood lipids: Cordyceps sinensis reduces the cholesterol and triglyceride in the blood, and increases the high density lipoprotein which is beneficial to the human body.