Identification method of true and false Gastrodia elata

Gastrodia elata is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine. With the gradual shortage of wild Gastrodia elata resources, Gastrodia elata has been listed as a third-class endangered plant protected by the state. In recent years, although the artificial cultivation of Gastrodia elata has made rapid progress, due to the large demand, market shortage and strong prices, some lawbreakers take the opportunity to enter with the fake as the real one. For this reason, the identification method of Gastrodia elata is introduced as follows:

1. It's really Tianma. There are eight characteristics: ⑴ underground tuber is oval or oval, usually oval after processing and drying, slightly flat, some curved, 5-12 cm long, 2-6 cm wide and 0.5-5 cm thick. ⑵ is slightly transparent and yellowish white or yellowish brown in appearance. ⑶ has a dry bud (commonly known as "parrot mouth") or a residual sunken stem base at the top. The lower end of ⑷ has a round navel-shaped scar (commonly known as "navel eye") formed by the backwardness of the female hemp. ⑸ has longitudinal wrinkles and grooves all over his body, and a ring pattern composed of multiple round spots. ⑹ is hard and not easy to break, and its cross section is flat, yellowish white or light brown. ⑺ is horny, non-fibrous and unbranched. ⑻ tastes slightly bitter and sweet, with crispy chewing and sticky teeth.

2. Fake Gastrodia elata. In the market, there are the following kinds of counterfeits pretending to be Gastrodia elata: ⑴ sheep horn Gastrodia elata tuber: Compositae plant, this product has obvious circular whisker root marks on the surface, but does not wrinkle, broken flour white, and hollow. ⑵ potato tuber: that is, the dried tuber of Solanaceae potato. This product also has no bud mark and has fine cracks after drying. ⑶ purple jasmine root: the tuberous root of purple jasmine, this product is long conical, the root hair scar is sunken in the shape of a small hole, no link, broken mask concentric ring. ⑷ Dahlia root: the root of Dahlia is similar to Gastrodia elata in shape, shape and size, but it has no link. After drying, it often has fine cracks, silty cross-section and opacity.