Is Cordyceps a worm or a grass? Uncovering its true identity
Cordyceps is a precious tonic medicinal herb commonly used in Chinese folk tradition. It can be used as medicine or eaten, can enhance the body's immunity, and nourish the lungs and kidneys. It has a significant inhibitory effect on lung cancer, liver cancer, and others, and clinically it is effective for chronic cough due to lung deficiency, asthma, hemoptysis from pulmonary tuberculosis, night sweats, soreness and weakness of the lower back and knees due to kidney deficiency, impotence and spermatorrhea, and more. Now let's take a look together at whether Cordyceps is a worm or a grass!
Is Cordyceps a worm or a grass?
Whether Cordyceps is a worm or a grass has long been debated. Some say it is an animal, yet a grass grows from its head; some say it is a plant, yet its main body is a worm. In fact, Cordyceps is a combination of an insect and a fungus. There is a larva of the green bat moth that resembles a yellow silkworm. Every year after autumn it burrows into the ground to hibernate, and at this time the Cordyceps fungus invades the insect's body, living by absorbing the insect's nutrients while continuously growing hyphae, ultimately causing the larva to die. Then the insect's body cavity gradually fills with hyphae and forms a sclerotium. At the turn of spring and summer the following year, from the head of the insect's body grows a club-shaped, purple-copper or brown new life form, the “stroma”, which breaks through the soil, and people therefore mistakenly think it is a grass.
How is Cordyceps formed?
The worm of Cordyceps is the larva of the Cordyceps bat moth, and the fungus is the Cordyceps fungus. Every midsummer, on the snow mountain meadows at altitudes above 3800 m, as the ice and snow melt, the small, brightly patterned bat moth leaves thousands upon thousands of eggs on flowers and leaves. The moth eggs then become small worms that burrow into the moist, loose soil, absorb nutrients from plant roots and stems, and gradually grow their bodies into plump, white forms. At this time, the spherical ascospores encounter the Cordyceps bat moth larva and drill into the insect's body, absorbing its nutrients and germinating hyphae. The larva infected by the fungus gradually wriggles to a place 2 to 3 cm below the surface, dying with its head up and tail down, and this is the “winter worm”. Although the larva dies, the fungus inside its body grows day by day until it fills the entire insect body. In late spring and early summer of the following year, from the head of the insect grows a small purple-red grass, about 2 to 5 cm tall, with a pineapple-shaped perithecium at the top, and this is the “summer grass”.
What effects does Cordyceps have?
1. Regulating immune function: Cordyceps can both increase the number of immune system cells and tissues and lower the function of certain immune cells.
2. Anti-tumor effect: Cordyceps contains cordycepin, which is its main anti-tumor component, and it is mostly used as an adjunctive treatment for malignant tumors.
3. Reducing fatigue: Cordyceps can increase the energy of human mitochondria and improve the body's cold tolerance, thereby reducing fatigue.
4. Regulating heart function: Cordyceps can improve the heart's ability to tolerate hypoxia, reduce the heart's oxygen consumption, and resist arrhythmia.
5. Regulating liver function: Cordyceps can reduce damage to the liver from toxic substances and can also exert beneficial effects on viral hepatitis.
6. Respiratory system regulation: Cordyceps can reduce damage to the liver from toxic substances and can also exert beneficial effects on viral hepatitis.
7. Regulating kidney function: Cordyceps can reduce kidney lesions from chronic diseases, improve kidney function, and reduce damage to the kidneys from toxic substances.
8. Regulating hematopoietic function: Cordyceps can enhance the bone marrow's ability to produce platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells.
9. Regulating blood lipid function: Cordyceps is used to lower cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood and increase high-density lipoprotein, which is beneficial to the human body.