What is Poria cocos root?

A friend showed me a brown thing a few days ago. He said it was Poria cocos grown under the roots of Pineapple Root. What is this? When I first looked at it, it looked like a stone. This is the first time I've seen it. My friend said that I have little knowledge, and that the Poria cocos grown under the roots of green pine is the best. It has many benefits to the body, just like it can relieve high blood pressure and low immunity. It can also treat insomnia and forgetfulness. What is the Poria cocos under the root of Bisporus chinensis and what nutritional value does it have? Let's take a look now.

The famous Chinese medicinal material Poria cocos, like other mushrooms, cannot live independently. It mainly parasitizes on the roots of pine trees, and can also grow on the roots of lacquer trees, oaks, fir trees, eucalyptus trees, orange mulberry trees, etc.

In the wild, when Poria cocos spores invade pine trees, they grow many thin filaments called hyphae. The hyphae absorb nutrients in the tree and continue to grow and develop, and then a large lump grows on the roots of the pine tree, which we call sclerotium. The sclerotium is hard in texture, some are spherical, some are oval, the small ones weigh about one or two kilograms, the large ones can weigh dozens of kilograms, and the largest can weigh over a hundred kilograms. This is the precious Chinese medicine Poria cocos.

Poria cocos, commonly known as Yunling, Songling, and Fuling, is a fungus that parasitizes on the roots of pine trees. It is shaped like a sweet potato, with a dark-brown skin and white or pink inside. Its protozoa are the dried sclerotia of the Polyporaceae fungus Poria cocos, which mostly parasitizes on the roots of Masson pine or red pine. It is produced in Yunnan, Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Sichuan and other places. The ancients called Poria cocos "the magical medicine of four seasons" because it has a wide range of effects that are not limited to any season. When combined with various medicines, it can exert its unique effects on all diseases, regardless of cold, heat, wind, or dampness.

Poria contains substances such as pachymannan, pachymic acid, fatty acids, lecithin, adenine, protease and triterpenes, as well as minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, sulfur and silicon dioxide.

The most common one is its sclerotium. Most of them are irregular blocks, such as spherical, flat, oblong or elliptical, with different sizes, ranging from the size of a fist to the largest with a diameter of 20 to 30 cm, or even larger. The epidermis is light gray-brown or dark brown, and is wrinkled and tumorous. The inside is white with a slight pink tint and is composed of countless hyphae. The fruiting body is umbrella-shaped, 0.5 to 2 mm in diameter, with slightly serrated rim; the sexual generation is not easy to see, honeycomb-shaped, usually attached to the outer skin of the sclerotium, initially white, then gradually turning into light brown, with polygonal pores, basidia club-shaped, basidiospores elliptical to cylindrical, slightly curved, pointed at one end, smooth, and colorless. Has a special odor.

The above introductions about the abundance of Poria cocos under the roots of Pinus schrenkiana were told to me by my friends, which broadened my horizons and increased my knowledge. Poria cocos can be used to make dishes and porridge, and they all taste especially delicious. If you want to nourish your body, it is best to do so in spring. Isn't spring the season when all things sprout? It is also the best season to nourish your body.