The "Rudi Wugong" (also known as "Shan Wugong") is a precious soup ingredient that is essential for high-end restaurants. Its traditional effects are to clear the lungs and transform phlegm, as well as to disperse stasis and detoxify. So how can we buy authentic "Rudi Wugong" in the market?
【Plant Morphology of Rudi Wugong】
It is a perennial herb. The rhizomes are dense and horizontally spread, with a purple-red exterior and a white interior. They have many fleshy roots that resemble centipedes. The petioles are 20-30 centimeters long and brown. The nutritive leaves are palmate and bird-like in shape, herbaceous, hairless, usually trifoliate, 15-25 centimeters long and 20-25 centimeters wide. The basal lobes have short stems, 0.5-0.8 centimeters long, bifurcated, with the central lobes trifurcated or lobed, elliptical to lanceolate, 8-14 centimeters long and 2-3 centimeters wide, with a pointed tip and a wedge-shaped base. The margins have wavy small serrations or are nearly entire, with prominent veins and separate lateral veins that bifurcate 1-2 times.
The sporangial spikes are solitary, emerging from the middle of the leaf base. The stalks are 7-9 centimeters long and brown. The spikes are 8-12 centimeters long and greenish. The sporangial capsules are spherical, without stalks, clustered on the receptacle, with uneven crested protrusions at the top. The spores are ovoid and smooth.
【Plant Morphology of Shui Wugong】
Morphological characteristics: It is a perennial herbaceous plant. The prostrate stems are purplish-red, and the rhizomes are nearly cylindrical, horizontally growing, with obvious nodes. Adventitious roots grow on the nodes. The leaves are linear, soft and smooth. In summer and autumn, it produces pale green or white flowers in terminal inflorescences, which are spherical and have three elongated leaf-like bracts, hence the name "Sanjiao Cao" (three-pod grass).
【Differences Between Rudi Wugong and Shui Wugong】
Rudi Wugong is hairy and looks a bit moldy. If you buy a root without hairs that looks very fresh, that is Rudi Wugong, not Shan Wugong.
