Cistanche Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Cistanche (Cistanche deserticola), known in China as Rou Cong Rong, is a leafless parasitic perennial of the broomrape family, Orobanchaceae, native to the sandy deserts of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, where it lives entirely on the roots of the saxaul shrub, Haloxylon ammodendron. Having no chlorophyll, it stays underground for most of its life and in spring pushes up a thick, fleshy, yellowish stem 40 to 160 centimeters tall covered in scale-like leaves and topped by a dense spike of tubular yellow flowers tinged purple. The dried stem is dark brown, heavy, and scaly, and tastes sweet and slightly salty. We extract the dried herb.