Yilong Pinellia

Yilong Pinellia

Yilong Pinellia is a product with a Geographical Indication for Agricultural Products.

　　Yilong Pinellia, commonly known as "Ma Yu Zi," is the tuber of the plant Pinellia ternata (Thunb) Breit., belonging to the Araceae family and Pinellia genus. It has long been used medicinally and remains one of the important medicinal herbs in the Yilong region. Yilong is both the genuine producing area and the historic home of Pinellia. According to the *Nanchong County Annals*, “Before the 25th year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1820), among the 63 types of medicinal herbs produced abundantly in Nanchong, Pinellia and Bombyx Batryticatus were especially well-known.” As early as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a Pinellia trading market had already formed in Yilong County. Yilong Pinellia became particularly famous for its “Baoning Pinellia Cake.” During the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty (1851–1861), Mu Futa, a merchant from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, established a handmade workshop for “Baoning Pinellia Cake” in Baoning (now Langzhong, Nanchong). The product was widely sold across North China, Shanghai, Wuhan, Changsha, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Zhejiang, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia. This shows that over 100 years ago, the Nanchong region was already a major producer of Pinellia. According to the *Sichuan Materia Medica* (published by Sichuan People’s Publishing House, 1960), “Pinellia is distributed throughout our province, with main production areas including Suining, Yilong County, and Pengxi in Nanchong.” The *Commonly Used Chinese Medicinal Materials of China* (published by Science Press, 1995), compiled by China National Medicinal Materials Corporation, states: “Guang’an and Yilong in Sichuan are among the primary distribution areas of Pinellia.” The *Genuine Regional Medicinal Materials of Sichuan* (published by Sichuan Publishing Group & Sichuan Science and Technology Press, 2005) notes: “Sichuan produces a large quantity of Pinellia, with Yilong being the most suitable growing region. The Pinellia produced here is of higher quality, renowned domestically and internationally for its white color, firm texture, abundant starch, full and uniform grains, absence of blister shells, and perfectly spherical shape.” The Yilong Pinellia industry has developed rapidly in recent times and has become one of the pillar industries of the local specialty agriculture. In the early days after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Pinellia Cake was made by the Mou family under state orders. Later, Mou Huiseng, a descendant of the Mou family, revealed the secret recipe, and Pinellia Cake came to be produced by the Langzhong County Pharmaceutical Factory. From 1952 to 1985, Yilong cumulatively purchased 596,000 kg of Pinellia, averaging 17,000 kg per year, which was exported to Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and other regions and countries. With the development of artificial cultivation techniques, local farmers began to grow Pinellia artificially. To distinguish Pinellia from different producing areas, merchants from other regions specifically referred to the Pinellia grown in Yilong as “Yilong Pinellia,” and over time, this gradually formed the natural brand of “Yilong Pinellia.” Before the 1960s, Yilong Pinellia was mainly wild. Starting in the 1970s, farmers gradually began to cultivate it artificially. Before the reform and opening-up, Yilong Pinellia continued to be grown using traditional farming methods. Due to the lack of scientific management and standardized processing techniques, the quality of the produced Pinellia was not high, and prices were relatively low, resulting in low enthusiasm among farmers and slow development. Entering the 1990s, with the proposal of modernizing traditional Chinese medicine in China, Yilong was designated by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a national production base for Sichuan Pinellia. Yilong County promoted Pinellia as one of the pillar industries of its specialty agriculture. In September 1999, the Office of the Sichuan Base of the National Science and Technology Industrial Base for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine selected Yilong Pinellia from Nanchong to participate in the National High-Quality Medicinal Materials Trade Fair held in Hong Kong, where it received praise from both domestic and foreign merchants. In December 1999, at the “High-Quality Agricultural Products Expo” held in Nanchong, Yilong Pinellia was rated as a “High-Quality Product.” In 2001, Yilong County was designated as a Science and Technology Demonstration Zone for Pinellia Medicinal Material Planting by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology. The Yilong County Party Committee and County Government attach great importance to the development of Yilong Pinellia. A leading group has been established, preferential policies have been formulated, and more than 3 million yuan has been invested in base construction, technology promotion, and scientific research and development. Significant efforts have been made to develop the Yilong Pinellia base and expand sales. Currently, standardized and pollution-free new planting techniques for Yilong Pinellia have been promoted in nine townships across the county. Through an industrial development model of “company + specialized cooperative + base + farmer,” farmers’ incomes have been increased. The plantable area of Yilong Pinellia is about 30,000 mu, with a total annual yield of about 12,000 tons and a total output value of up to 216 million yuan. In 2011, the planting area was more than 2,000 mu, with a total yield of over 400 tons. Calculated at the average price of 140 yuan/kg in 2010, the total output value was over 50 million yuan, with an average income of over 20,000 yuan per mu, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale development of Yilong Pinellia and indicating broad prospects for industrial growth.

　　Geographical Scope

　　Yilong Pinellia is produced in Yilong County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province. The geographical indication protection area for agricultural products includes five townships: Shuangsheng Town, Fuxing Town, Wufu Town, Saijin Town, and Fengyi Township, covering 87 administrative villages. The geographical coordinates are between 106°21′–106°23′ east longitude and 31°18′–31°25′ north latitude, with a protected area of 2,000 hectares and an annual yield of 12,000 tons.

　　Product Quality Characteristics

　　(1) External Sensory Characteristics: Yilong Pinellia tubers are spherical, plump, free of blister shells, uniformly sized, with diameters of 1.0–1.5 cm; the surface is light yellow, with a sunken stem scar at the top surrounded by dense needle-like root scars; the underside is bluntly round and relatively smooth; the texture is firm, the cross-section is white, and rich in starch; it has a faint aroma, with a spicy, numbing tongue, and throat-irritating taste. (2) Internal Quality Indicators: Yilong Pinellia has total ash ≤4.0%, extractives ≥13.0%, and is rich in amino acids. (3) Safety Requirements: Yilong Pinellia meets the quality standards set by the *Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China* and is processed according to GMP standards.