Cordyceps chanhua is a medicinal and edible fungus in the Cordyceps family,and it is an im-portant new raw material with great development potential in the field of food and health products.This re-search aimed to assess the impact of isolation methods on both the biological characteristics and the active in-gredients of this wild species.Five distinct wild C.chanhua specimens from the Dabie Mountains were exam-ined using conidiospore and tissue (sclerotium) separation methods,and 10 strains were successfully isolated.A comparative analysis was conducted on parameters such as colony morphology,growth rate,yield of fruiting body,and active substance content.The quality of fruiting body was comprehensively evaluated using normal-ization method and cluster heat map analysis.As per result findings,the strains isolated from conidiospores exhibited overall superiority in key indicators (excluding colony growth rate) such as weight,length,diameter of fruiting body,biological efficiency and active ingredients.Colony growth rate was deemed inappropriate for strain quality screening.Notably,there was an inverse correlation between the spore yield of fruiting body and biological efficiency,and active ingredient content.Four strains with excellent comprehensive characteristics were screened,including strains IC1-1,IC3-1,IC1-2 and IC2-1.The wet weight of the fruiting body ranged from 12.17 to 15.31 g;the length of the fruiting body ranged from 6.20 to 7.00 cm;the diameter of the fruiting body ranged from 2.15 to 2.75 mm;the biological efficiency of the fruiting body ranged from 40.57% to 51.03%;the adenosine content ranged from 1.76 to 1.89 mg·g-1;polysaccharide content ranged from 46.1 to 50.1 mg·g-1,and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl) adenosine content ranged from 1.21 to 1.33 mg·g-1.This study can provide a theoretical basis for the protection of C.chanhua resources and the creation of varieties.