The main production areas of Gastrodia elata are concentrated in the high mountain forest regions of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan

Gastrodia elata is a valuable orchid family medicinal plant, whose dried tubers are used as medicine, and it has long been known among the people as "wind-stilling grass." It cannot live autotrophically and must live in symbiosis with Armillaria mellea to obtain nutrients, so it has rather special requirements for its growing environment and is mostly found in cool, moist, high-altitude mountain forest areas, which is also the fundamental reason for the distribution pattern of its main production areas.

In terms of distribution, the main production areas of Gastrodia elata in China are concentrated in the mountainous areas of the southwest, with Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan producing the most; northeastern Yunnan, western Guizhou and the mountainous areas around the Sichuan Basin are all traditional production areas, and Tongjiang in Sichuan mentioned on this site is one of the important traditional Chinese medicinal material production areas in northeastern Sichuan. In addition, Hanzhong in Shaanxi, western Hubei, the Dabie Mountains in Anhui and the Changbai Mountain forest area in the northeast also produce it on a certain scale.

Varieties differ slightly among production areas, with common types including black Gastrodia elata, red Gastrodia elata, yellow Gastrodia elata and green Gastrodia elata. Black Gastrodia elata mostly grows in high-altitude areas, and its tubers are plump and full, with quality relatively recognized by the market; red Gastrodia elata has strong adaptability and a wider distribution range, and is the main type in cultivation in various places; the black Gastrodia elata cultivation technique on this site also gives a special introduction to its planting points.

As artificial cultivation techniques have continued to mature, the cultivation range of Gastrodia elata has gradually expanded, and some low-altitude areas have achieved introduction through methods such as cultivating sexual Gastrodia elata seeds, and there are also reports of successful cultivation in Taiwan, China and other places. When purchasing Gastrodia elata, the production area is one of the reference factors for judging quality; usually the tubers from high-altitude production areas are firmer and fuller, but specifically it is still necessary to combine appearance, smell and other characteristics for comprehensive identification.