The growing environment is also an important factor in determining the price of cordyceps!

        The winter worm is the larva of an insect. During its growth, it is invaded by a fungus called summer grass. The summer grass grows inside the winter worm, causing its death. When summer arrives, the fruiting body of the summer grass grows out of the winter worm's body, just as if the winter worm has grown into summer grass.

        Without the invasion of the summer grass fungus, the winter worm would complete its life cycle from egg to larva, pupa, and adult. It is precisely because of the invasion of the summer grass fungus that the winter worm dies only in the larval stage and becomes food for the summer grass, causing people to misunderstand that the worm is an insect in winter and turns into grass in summer.

The growth of cordyceps has always been shrouded in mystery for humankind. An ancient poem describes it thus: "Cordyceps in winter and summer live up to its name, its transformation and growth are all connected by the same energy. One thing can combine the characteristics of both plants and animals, the mysteries of the world are truly inexhaustible."

        "Actually, Cordyceps is a combination of an insect and a fungus. The insect is the larva of the Cordyceps bat moth, and the fungus is the Cordyceps fungus. Every summer, on the snow-covered meadows above 3,800 meters in altitude, as the snow melts, the small, colorful bat moths leave millions of eggs on the flowers and leaves. The eggs then hatch into small insects, which burrow into the moist, loose soil, absorb nutrients from the plant roots and stems, and gradually grow into plump, white plants."

        At this point, the spherical ascospores encounter the larvae of the Cordyceps bat moth, burrow into the insect's body, attract its nutrients, and germinate hyphae. When the larvae of the Cordyceps bat moth eat leaves containing Cordyceps fungus, they also become Cordyceps.

        Infected by fungi, the larvae gradually crawl to a depth of two to three centimeters below the ground, dying head down. This is the "winter worm." Although the larvae die, the fungus inside them continues to grow until it fills the entire body. In late spring and early summer of the following year, a small, purplish-red plant, about two to five centimeters tall, grows from the worm's head, topped with a pineapple-shaped capsule; this is the "summer grass." Cordyceps is at its most fully developed and has the highest concentration of active ingredients at this time, making it the best season for harvesting. Qinghai, and Diqing and Nujiang prefectures in Yunnan Province are among the main production areas of Cordyceps.