I've hit dead ends trying to identify a root sold to us by a favorite tea dealer, but if any source knows it would be this group!
It's a dried rhizome, cut in round slices. Brownish outside, near- white inside. It resembles ginseng or ginger. We've been told that when it is uncut it is one straight root about one foot long.
When brewed as a tea it has a light golden color and a pleasant mild taste similar to mushroom broth.
The tea dealer (who speaks little English) indicated it was often brewed as a tea to help regulate sugar for diabetics -- my wife and I are sensitive to sugar and indeed we feel much better when drinking this after desserts.
A friendly translator (who speaks English haltingly) told us that this root's name was two characters. The first character is cow (she pointed out the "horns" in the character), but she stumbled when trying to explain the second. She said it was like an "organ" of the cow, and seemed to get embarrased. When thinking about what possible organs of a cow could be like a straight root one foot long, I could understand her embarrassment. We've thus dubbed the tea "cao schlong" (rhymes with bao zhong).
Does anyone have an idea of what this root might really be?