Why has plant callus suddenly become so popular this year?

In the list of new cosmetic raw material filings in 2025, "plant callus" has become a frequently appearing keyword.

Within just a few months, extracts from callus of plants such as snow lotus, night-blooming cereus, peony, and Bletilla sinensis have completed the filing process with the National Medical Products Administration. The involved enterprises include well - known domestic brands like Shuiyang Co., Ltd., Farbenic, and Gu Yu, as well as upstream innovative companies like Weiming Shiguang and Baiyuete.

For a long time, due to ecological limitations and resource scarcity, it has been difficult to achieve a stable supply of rare plants. Traditional plant extraction methods also face problems such as batch differences, pesticide residue risks, and sustainability challenges. Now, plant callus technology enables the soilless and controllable production of plant active substances through in vitro cell culture, giving new life to endangered plants.

"The genes of each plant are like a biography, telling the whole process of the plant from birth to experience to death. If a plant becomes extinct, its genome will disappear, and the rare active ingredients in it will also vanish into the long river of history. Plant callus technology gives us the opportunity to recreate the wonders of nature." Dr. Chen Jiayue, co - founder and CSO of Weiming Shiguang, once publicly stated.

This is not only a raw material innovation but also a resonance of technology, ecology, and beauty. When "green intelligent manufacturing" becomes a keyword in the industry, callus technology is becoming the "new quality productive force" in the Chinese beauty industry.

The wave of filings is rising, and plant callus ingredients are getting "hot"

Since 2025, plant callus has quickly become a new focus in the cosmetic industry.

A search for "callus" on the public information platform for new cosmetic raw material filings of the National Medical Products Administration by FBeauty Future Trace shows that a total of 6 related raw materials have completed the filing process, 5 of which were completed in 2025. These involve various plant types, from alpine snow lotus to orchid plants and night - blooming cereus.

It is worth noting that brand enterprises have played a crucial role in this batch of filings.

In February, Gu Yu, through its R & D center, Guangzhou Qingnang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., successfully filed "snow lotus callus powder", becoming one of the first enterprises in the industry to apply cell culture technology to rare snow lotus. In September, Shuiyang Co., Ltd. also filed "snow lotus callus extract" for its main brand, Yuni, and plans to use it in product lines such as creams, essences, and masks.

Meanwhile, more brands are betting on this track through close cooperation.

Meichulai, the parent company of Farbenic, filed "peony callus extract". This achievement was the result of the cooperation between the Farbenic team and the Weiming Shiguang Biological Laboratory. As early as March this year, the two parties published a related paper in an international authoritative SCI journal as co - first authors, elaborating in detail on the mechanism and effect of peony callus extract in anti - photoaging. Currently, this research result has been applied to Farbenic's anti - aging product line.

Hangzhou Lanjiang, the parent company of the emerging skincare brand LAN, filed a new raw material for endangered orchid plants, "Bletilla sinensis callus extract". The producer of this raw material is Suzhou Shiguang Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a wholly - owned subsidiary of Weiming Shiguang.

Upstream innovative companies behind the scenes are another driving force for this wave of filings.

Baiyuete, affiliated with the Dajiang Biotech Group, filed "Mesembryanthemum crystallinum callus extract". Although no brand cooperation has been publicly announced yet, the filing itself reserves another cutting - edge technology option for the market. Hangzhou Shiguang Xinya Biology, a subsidiary of Weiming Shiguang, filed "night - blooming cereus callus extract", featuring the concept of "night repair". Its technology also supports the filings of peony and Bletilla sinensis raw materials, demonstrating its ability to output platform - based technology.

Tissue - cultured seedlings of Bletilla sinensis cultivated by the Weiming Shiguang Plant Innovation Laboratory

It is worth mentioning that as early as its establishment in 2021, Weiming Shiguang cooperated with Peking University to build a "rare plant germplasm resource bank", jointly exploring and collecting endangered plants at home and abroad. Using its own new - generation plant callus culture technology, it protects and regenerates rare plant resources. So far, it has successfully induced callus from more than 80 plant species and can redifferentiate them to obtain plant clone seedlings.

"The successful filing of multiple plant callus products is a very good thing in my opinion," Lai Renfu, the person in charge of the product development department of Chongqing Ansibo and the founder of Xiaotiaofu Technology pointed out. "It shows that domestic enterprises started to make arrangements long ago, and the acceptance of this direction in the entire industry is rapidly increasing." In his view, the emergence of this trend is the result of the joint promotion of mature technology, policy encouragement, and brand demand.

On the one hand, policies such as the "Announcement on Issuing Several Provisions to Support the Innovation of Cosmetic Raw Materials" issued by the National Medical Products Administration have injected a boost into raw material innovation with nine specific measures, clearly indicating the orientation of encouraging technological innovation. On the other hand, the instability of the supply chain of traditional rare plant raw materials has been fully exposed in market competition.

Lai Renfu gave a vivid example: "Honokiol and Magnolol are usually extracted from the bark of Magnolia officinalis. Generally, the content of these two compounds is relatively high only in the bark of older Magnolia officinalis trees. This means that a product claiming efficacy based on these ingredients must find old - enough Magnolia officinalis trees. Once a product becomes a hit, the amount of raw materials required in the next year may double, but you can't instantly produce that many old - enough trees."

This kind of "weather - dependent" supply chain cannot support the continuous growth of brands and the demand for market explosion. Plant callus technology, which is produced in a sterile factory environment, is not restricted by seasons, climates, or regions and can achieve a stable and rapid supply, perfectly addressing this industry pain point.

Shuiyang Co., Ltd. also said in an interview with FBeauty Future Trace: "This is an inevitable choice for enterprises to use technological means to solve the raw material shortage and promote the high - quality and standardized development of the cosmetic industry."

This is not just about obtaining a few filing certificates. It indicates that a new raw material development path that combines technological innovation, ecological protection, and commercial value has begun to take shape.

Breaking through technological barriers, from plant wounds to "cell factories"

If the "surge in filings" marks the excitement point of the market, the core reason why plant callus ingredients have truly attracted attention lies in the cell culture technology behind them.

Plant callus is not a new concept. As early as the 1950s, American scientists applied for relevant patents, and Japanese enterprises were the first to use it in the production of pharmaceutical ingredients in the 1980s. Now, this ingredient and related technologies are regaining vitality in the cosmetic field, with both in - depth research and great potential for industrial implementation.

First of all, plant callus has multiple advantages in skincare efficacy mechanisms and raw material development and application.

Lai Renfu explained: "Callus is actually a self - repair mechanism of plants after being injured."

When the stem, leaf, or root of a plant is damaged, a mass of undifferentiated cells will form at the wound. These cells have strong regenerative ability and can differentiate into new tissues or organs to repair the wound and resist external damage. Therefore, during the growth process, these cells secrete a large amount of defensive substances, antioxidants, and active metabolites - these are the highly effective natural active ingredients pursued by skincare products.

"The special feature of callus is that it can produce diverse and high - content secondary metabolites in a controlled environment," he pointed out. "For those of us engaged in raw material development, this means a more stable, controllable, and rich active library."

"We regard plant cells as an intelligent factory," Qiu Xiaofeng, the vice - president of R & D of Cosmax and the chairman of Kopuri Bio said in an interview with FBeauty Future Trace. "It can not only produce callus rich in bioactive substances but also extract extracellular vesicles from it as carriers to carry and deliver other functional ingredients, making the activity more precise and efficient."

At the process level, there are mainly two technical paths for plant callus culture: solid culture method and liquid culture method.

The traditional solid culture method induces plant tissues to form callus on a solid medium and gradually expands it to form callus cell clusters. This method is stable but has low efficiency and is suitable for early experimental research.

In recent years, enterprises represented by Chongqing Ansibo have developed liquid shake - flask culture technology, enabling the uniform growth and scale - up of callus cells in a large - volume liquid medium, allowing callus to be industrially produced like "bacterial fermentation". Now, Ansibo has multiple plant callus cosmetic raw materials such as sea fennel callus culture filtrate, edelweiss callus extract, and eryngium maritimum callus extract filtrate.

"This is a key breakthrough that truly brings laboratory results to the factory," Lai Renfu explained. "Liquid culture means that we can batch - culture plant cells in a thousand - liter reaction tank, breaking through the bottleneck of traditional agriculture restricted by climate and seasons."

Cosmax has proposed another idea of technological integration from the industrial end.

Cosmax's GreenCall™ plant callus cell directional culture technology can induce the formation of callus by activating the plant stress response mechanism. The PhytoExo™ PLUS+ plant callus cell extracellular vesicle delivery technology can encapsulate other active substances in plant - derived vesicles, achieving better transdermal absorption and stability.

Some results of Cosmax's GreenCall™ plant callus cell directional culture technology

More importantly, this technology endows R & D personnel with the ability of "metabolic regulation".

In the traditional plant extraction system, enterprises usually rely on natural growth conditions and have difficulty controlling the content of active substances. Callus culture enables researchers to adjust the production ratio of secondary metabolites by changing the medium composition, temperature, light, and even stress conditions, thus achieving "customized production".

Lai Renfu gave an example: "We can stimulate the cells of edelweiss to produce more total edelweiss acid during the culture process through light or temperature stimulation. We can also change the ratio of edelweiss acid A and B by adjusting the nutritional conditions. In the past, we could only 'take' things from plants, but now we can 'design' them."

This shift in thinking has upgraded plant callus technology from a raw material supply tool to a biological manufacturing platform. It has brought three major changes to the cosmetic industry:

Firstly, efficiency improvement in research - callus samples have a high degree of consistency, providing a standardized basis for efficacy mechanism research and AI modeling;

Secondly, stable and controllable production - avoiding ingredient fluctuations caused by climate and production area differences and ensuring the continuity of the ingredient supply chain;

Thirdly, optimization of cost and cycle - cell batch culture can be completed in just over ten days, significantly shortening the production time compared with the harvesting cycle of perennial plants.

Now, from scientific research laboratories to ODM factories, from raw material filings to brand concepts, plant callus technology is being redefined. It is no longer just an "ingredient" but a complete set of sustainable, replicable, and expandable plant biological manufacturing systems.

Lai Renfu summarized: "In the past, we talked about 'extracting beauty from nature'. Now, we can say that it is 'using technology to redefine the beauty of nature'. It gives us the opportunity to recreate existing plant raw materials in a more technological, safer, and more understandable way."

Future challenges and prospects, sustainable beauty empowered by technology

As the application of plant callus technology in the cosmetic industry deepens, it has moved from laboratory exploration to a new stage of industrial implementation.

From an industry perspective, the real value of callus technology lies in being 'controllable, traceable, and sustainable'.

In the past, rare plants that relied on wild collection faced problems such as resource shortage, unstable batches, and environmental pollution. Callus technology, through in vitro sterile culture, enables the directional induction and continuous reproduction of plant cells, significantly improving the yield and purity of active substances.

Shuiyang Co., Ltd. said: "Traditional wild collection is not only limited by resource protection and seasonality but also has problems such as pesticide residues and batch differences. Callus technology realizes standardized production from the laboratory to the factory, supplying highly active and pollution - free raw materials throughout the year."

This means that plant ingredients no longer rely on regions and seasons and can achieve sustainable and large - scale production, providing a new raw material basis for cosmetics.

However, it is not easy to truly achieve the transformation from the laboratory to the market.

Firstly, there are challenges in technological complexity and cost control. Callus culture requires precise control of hormone concentration, medium composition, induction conditions, etc. The production process has extremely high environmental requirements, and even a slight deviation can affect the quality of the product.

Secondly, it takes time to accumulate safety data. Although callus technology avoids some traditional risks, its ingredient profile is different from that of traditional plants, and a complete long - term safety assessment system is needed to support it.

Shuiyang Co., Ltd. emphasized in the interview that they ensure the safety of raw materials through "strict third - party testing and certification", which reflects the industry's high - level attention to compliance.

Thirdly, the supporting industrial ecosystem is not yet perfect. Problems such as the lack of professional talent reserves, the development of targeted extraction processes, and the absence of industry standards restrict the rapid popularization of the technology.

Among them, standard - setting and industry collaboration are particularly important. Lai Renfu said: "Without standards, there is no industry. It is recommended that industry associations take the lead in form