Suo Yang

Cynomorium songaricum is a holoparasitic perennial herb in the family Cynomoriaceae, native to arid sandy and saline habitats of Central Asia, Mongolia, northwestern China, and the steppe regions of Russia. Lacking chlorophyll and true leaves, the plant attaches by haustoria to the roots of host shrubs (commonly Nitraria) and produces only a thick, fleshy, dark red-brown subterranean stem 15–30 cm tall and 3–6 cm thick that emerges from the sand. The stem is covered with small triangular scale-leaves and terminates in a club-shaped spike of densely packed, tiny dark-purple flowers visited by flies. The whole fleshy stem (Suo Yang) is dug in spring or autumn, sliced, and sun-dried. In TCM it is sweet and warm, tonifying kidney-yang, boosting essence and blood, and moistening the intestines for constipation in the elderly.