Key Cultivation Techniques and Planting Management Methods for Curculigo orchioides

Curculigo orchioidesAlso known as di zong and du mao, its rhizome is used as medicine and is a commonly used Chinese medicinal herb. It has the effects of warming kidney yang and strengthening bones and muscles, and treats impotence with cold sperm, urinary incontinence, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, cold pain in the heart and abdomen, cold impediment of the waist and legs, carbuncles and sores, scrofula, cold diarrhea due to yang deficiency, impotence with cold sperm, wind-cold of the waist and knees, and flaccidity and impediment of the bones and muscles, among other conditions. In China, Curculigo orchioides is mainly produced in southern Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, China, Hunan and Guangdong, among other places.

Morphological Characteristics

Perennial herb. The rhizome is elongated, up to 30 cm long, cylindrical, fleshy, with brown outer skin; the roots are thick and fleshy, and the aboveground stem is not obvious. Leaves are 3 to 6, arising from the root, narrowly lanceolate, 10 to 25 cm long, gradually pointed at the tip, with the base extending downward into a petiole and then further expanding into a sheath-like form, 4 to 10 cm long, greenish-white, with membranous margins; leaf veins are distinct, with a midrib; both surfaces are sparsely covered with long soft hairs, later becoming smooth. Flowers are axillary; the pedicel is 1 to 2.5 cm long and hidden within the leaf sheath; flowers are polygamous, with male flowers above and bisexual flowers below; the bracts are lanceolate, green, membranous, covered with long soft hairs; the flower is about 1 cm in diameter, the lower part of the perianth is a slender tube, about 2 cm long or longer, the upper part is 6-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, 8 to 12 mm long, yellow on the inside, white on the outside, with long soft hairs; stamens 6, filaments short; the ovary is narrowly elongated, covered with long soft hairs. The berry is elliptical, slightly fleshy, about 1.2 cm long, with a beak at the tip, covered with long soft hairs; the seed is somewhat spherical, glossy black, with a beak, and the surface has wavy furrows. The flowering period is June to August.

I. Growth Habits

It prefers warmth, tolerates shade and drought, grows wild on hillsides or in sparse forests and low grass, and grows well in well-drained, loose-textured, humus-rich sandy loam soil.

II. Site Selection and Land Preparation

For virgin land, the soil should be turned in the winter of the first year, then plowed and harrowed twice in the spring of the second year, the land leveled and broken up fine, and wood roots, weeds and stones picked out clean. For cultivated land, plow and prepare the land 1 month before planting. Several days before planting, apply 1500 to 2000 kg of compost and turf ash per mu as base fertilizer. Then harrow shallowly once, and form raised beds 120 cm wide.

III. Sowing

Curculigo orchioides can be propagated by seed and by rhizome. For seed propagation, collect the fruits hidden in the leaf sheaths each September, rub out the seeds and store them indoors in moist fine sand, and sow in March to April of the following year. After the seedlings emerge, strengthen management, promptly remove weeds, and apply appropriate topdressing and drainage. After two years of cultivation, the seedlings can be planted. For rhizome propagation, when harvesting (or collecting wild) Curculigo orchioides, select robust rhizomes free of pests and diseases as seed stock, cut the selected seed rhizomes into 2 cm-long sections for raising seedlings. After emergence, promptly carry out weeding and fertilization management, and after 1 to 2 years of cultivation they can be planted.

Curculigo orchioides can be planted from October to November each year through March of the following year. On the prepared planting beds, set plants at a row spacing and plant spacing of 15 cm and a hole depth of about 10 cm, placing 3 to 4 seedlings per hole evenly, covering with soil and pressing firm, then watering thoroughly.

IV. Field Management

In the first year of planting, carry out the first intertillage and weeding after the seedlings turn green, then carry out a shallow intertillage once each quarter, and weeds between the plants should be pulled by hand. Apply topdressing 3 to 4 times each year; for the first and second times, combine with intertillage and weeding and apply 1000 to 1500 kg of human and livestock manure and urine per mu each time; the third intertillage and weeding is in July to September, and at the same time apply 2000 kg of barnyard manure and turf ash per mu, then earth up after application. Where fertilizer is sufficient, apply another winter fertilizer in November to December, applying 2000 kg of turf ash and compost per mu. Curculigo orchioides is a shade-loving plant, and soybeans, mung beans, cowpeas and vegetables can be intercropped in the planting area, which can both shade Curculigo orchioides and benefit its growth while also increasing economic returns.

V. Harvesting and Processing

After Curculigo orchioides has been planted for two years, it can be harvested from October to November after the plants wither, until early spring of the following year before Curculigo orchioides sprouts. At harvest, dig up the whole plant, shake off the soil, remove all residual leaves and fibrous roots, and spread in the sun to dry or dry by heat to obtain the commercial product.

Commercial specifications and quality standards: general goods, fully dry, thick strips, fleshy, cylindrical, slightly curved, with brown or dark brown surface. The rhizome is hard in texture, with a flat cross-section, light brown or brown flesh, a slight pungent aroma, and a slightly pungent taste. Free of fibrous roots and impurities, and free of insect damage and mildew.