How to distinguish the authenticity of Cistanche tubulosa

I believe everyone should have a certain understanding of Cistanche tubulosa. It can help us improve many diseases, but many friends are often afraid that they will buy fake Cistanche tubulosa when choosing. In this way, not only will they waste money, but after eating it, it will not achieve the effect of nourishing the body and improving diseases. It can also easily bring some adverse effects to the body. So how to distinguish the authenticity of Cistanche tubulosa?

Cistanche deserticola, also known as Rousongrong and Dayun, is the fleshy stem of the Orobanchaceae plant Cistanche deserticola or Cistanche deserticola, Cistanche deserticola, etc. It is a commonly used tonic Chinese medicine and is known as the "Desert Ginseng". It can be harvested in spring and autumn, but it is best to harvest it between March and May. If it is harvested out of season, it will be hollow and affect the quality. Those harvested in spring are usually half-buried in sand and dried in the sun. The products are called "sweet Dayun", "light Dayun" or "light Cistanche". Those picked in autumn are not easy to dry because of their high moisture content, so they need to be soaked in salt water and then taken out to dry. They are called "salty Dayun", "salty Dayun" or "salty Cistanche".

Cistanche is warm in nature, sweet, sour and salty in taste, and enters the kidney and large intestine meridians. It has the effects of nourishing the kidney and replenishing essence, moisturizing dryness and lubricating the intestines. It is used to treat male impotence, female infertility, leucorrhea, metrorrhagia, cold pain in the waist and knees, blood deficiency and constipation. In recent years, due to the shortage of medicine sources, some products on the market are impersonating Cistanche deserticola as Cistanche deserticola. Please be careful to identify them when using them.

Authentic Cistanche deserticola

Sweet Cistanche is flat and cylindrical in shape, slightly thinner and slightly curved at one end, about 10 to 30 cm long and 3 to 6 cm in diameter. The surface is gray-brown or brown, densely covered with thick fleshy scales arranged in a shingle-like manner; it is hard and slightly tough, the flesh is oily and not easy to break, the cross-section is brown with white spots and cracks; it has a faint odor and tastes slightly sweet. The shape of Cistanche saltwort is irregular, dark brown, soft in texture, with a salt frost on the outer surface. It has a faint smell but tastes salty.

Cistanche tubulosa

It is an irregular shape such as flat cylindrical, flat spindle, flat oval, flat round, 6 to 8 cm long, 4 to 6.5 cm in diameter, with a reddish brown, grayish yellow brown or brownish brown surface, mostly twisted, densely covered with fleshy scales arranged in a slightly imbricate manner, dense on the upper part and sparse on the lower part, the tips of the scales have mostly broken off, the remaining part is mostly more than 1 cm wide, the whole scale is slightly long triangular, about 1 cm high. It is heavy, hard, not tough, difficult to break, and has a granular cross-section. It is mostly gray-brown in color, and some have a black, hard, gelatinous outer ring. There are numerous dark brown dot-like vascular bundles, scattered irregularly, some with small cracks; it has a faint odor and tastes sweet and slightly bitter.

The above is an analysis and introduction on how to distinguish the authenticity of Cistanche tubulosa. If friends are worried about buying fakes, they need to go to a regular pharmacy to buy it. You can also use the method introduced above to distinguish the authenticity of Cistanche tubulosa. Only in this way can you choose the correct Cistanche tubulosa and bring benefits to your body.