Where are the latest Poria production areas? Overview of main producing area distribution

Poria is the dried sclerotium of the fungus Poria cocos (Fomitopsidaceae), shaped like a sweet potato, spherical, with a pale brown or dark brown outer skin and a pink or white interior. The ancients called Poria “the divine medicine of all seasons” because its effects are extremely wide-ranging, regardless of the season; combined with various medicines, it can exert its unique effects on cold, warm, wind and damp ailments alike. Let us take a look below at where Poria production areas are!

Where are Poria production areas?

Poria often parasitizes the roots of plants in the Pinaceae family such as Japanese red pine or masson pine, and occasionally occurs on the roots of other conifers and broadleaf trees. In China it is distributed in Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shanxi and other places, with main production in Anhui, Yunnan and Hubei. It is also distributed in Vietnam, Thailand and India.

The growth process of Poria

When external conditions are suitable, the Poria mycelium decomposes components of the substrate, selectively absorbs them and converts them into its own nutrients, gradually growing larger. When the mycelium has formed in large amounts and occupies the entire substrate, it gathers and clumps together at a suitable spot, forming a sclerotium. When the sclerotium develops in the soil to a certain extent, it gradually swells and grows upward, with its upper part emerging above the soil surface, and on the lower side of the exposed part it produces a milky-white, sheet-like, small honeycomb-shaped fruiting body. After the fruiting body matures, large numbers of spores are released and escape from within the fruiting layer. Under suitable conditions the spores germinate and grow, forming new mycelium and beginning a new generation of life.

Common types of Poria

1. Poria skin: Poria skin is the black outer skin of the Poria sclerotium. It is especially good at promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, and is suitable for edema, difficult urination and similar patterns; it is often combined with ginger skin, mulberry root bark, tangerine peel and areca peel, namely the Five-Peel Powder.

2. Poria with skin: Poria with skin is Poria that has been cut up, using the red Poria with the skin shell attached. Its effects and indications are the same as Poria skin. If Poria with skin is unavailable, a mixture of 3/4 Poria and 1/4 Poria skin can be used instead.

3. Red Poria: Red Poria is the red part of the Poria sclerotium. It is especially good at promoting diuresis and draining dampness, and is suitable for water-dampness, retained fluids and similar patterns; it is often combined with Polyporus umbellatus and Alisma.

4. White Poria: White Poria is the white part of the Poria sclerotium. It is especially good at strengthening the spleen, and is suitable for spleen deficiency with fatigue, poor appetite and loose stools; it is often combined with Codonopsis, Atractylodes macrocephala and licorice.

5. Fushen: Fushen is the small pieces cut from the part of the Poria sclerotium that runs through the pine root. It is especially good at calming the heart and settling the spirit, and is suitable for restlessness of the mind, palpitations, insomnia and similar patterns. To enhance its effects, it is also often mixed with cinnabar, and is then called Zhu Fushen or cinnabar-coated Poria.