Cordyceps Tincture & Alcohol-Free Extract

Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris), the scarlet caterpillar club, is not a plant but a fungus of the Cordycipitaceae family, found in grassland and woodland across Europe, Asia, and North America, where it grows from the buried pupae and larvae of moths and butterflies. In late summer and autumn it pushes up one or a few bright orange, club-shaped fruiting bodies 2 to 8 centimeters tall, finely pimpled at the tip where the spores form, like small orange matchsticks standing in the moss. Unlike its Tibetan relative, it grows readily in culture, and commercial supply is fruited on sterilized rice or soy in climate-controlled rooms. We extract the dried mushroom.