A Detailed Guide to the Planting Methods and Key Technical Points for Codonopsis pilosula

Codonopsis pilosula: mainly produced in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan and the Northeast region.

Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta: mainly produced in western Sichuan and parts of Gansu.

Codonopsis tangshen: mainly in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and other provinces.

[Medicinal material characteristics]

Codonopsis pilosula: the root is long and cylindrical, slightly curved, 10-35 cm long, 0.4-2 cm in diameter. The surface is yellow-brown to grayish-brown; the root head has numerous warty, protruding stem scars and buds, with the tip of each stem scar appearing as a sunken round dot; below the root head there are dense ring-like transverse wrinkles that gradually become sparser downward, sometimes extending to half the total length; cultivated products have few or no ring-like transverse wrinkles; the whole root has longitudinal wrinkles and scattered transversely elongated lenticels, and at the broken ends of branch roots there is often a dark brown gelatinous substance. The texture is slightly hard or somewhat tough; the cut surface is slightly flat, with cracks or radial texture; the bark is pale yellowish-white to brown, and the wood is pale yellow. It has a distinctive aroma and a slightly sweet taste.

Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta: the surface is yellowish-white to grayish-yellow; the dense ring-like transverse wrinkles below the root head often extend to more than half the total length. The cut surface has many cracks; the bark is grayish-white to pale brown, and the wood is pale yellow.

Codonopsis tangshen: the surface is grayish-yellow to yellowish-brown, with obvious irregular longitudinal grooves. The texture is relatively soft yet firm; the cut surface has fewer cracks; the bark is yellowish-white, and the wood is pale yellow.