Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a fungus that parasitizes larvae of ghost moths and produces a fruiting body valued as an herbal remedy.
YARSHAGUMBA is Nepalized Tibetan name (summer grass, winter worm) for a rare fungus that parasites on the body of a caterpillar of a moth (genus THITARODES). This CATERPILLAR FUNGUS (CORDYCEPS, or alsoOPHIOCORDYCEPS SINENSIS) grows only at high altitudes in Tibet, Nepal, China, Bhutan and North-East India. For its medical effects, YARSAGUMBA has been an important component for a many of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, due to a constantly growing demand and the difficulties in harvesting, YARSAGUMBA has become the most expansive medicinal substance in the world.
GENESIS OF CATERPILLAR FUNGUS
The caterpillar of a moth genus THITARODES (Hepialus) lives underground in alpine grass and shrublands on the Tibetian Plateau and Himalayas (at an altitude of 3000-5000 m) spending up to 5 years underground before pupating, feeding on roots of a plants. During this larvae state, the caterpillar is attacked by a fungus of the genus OPHIOCORDYCIPITACEAE. (It is not certain how the fungus infects the caterpillar - possibly by ingestion of a fungal spore or by the fungus mycelium, invading the insect through its breathing pores.) The fungus fills its entire body cavity with mycelium, eventually killing and mummifying the insect. Before this happens, somehow, the fungus causes the caterpillar to get near the top of its burrow. In springtime, after the snow melts, mushrooms emerge from the ground, always growing out of forehead of the caterpillar. The size of a mature mushroom reaches 5-15 cm above the surface and relaeases its spores onto the ground, and the cycle repeats.
Yarshagumba or Yarchagumbu is an exceptional and incredible herb that grows in the pastures above 3,300 meters upto 4000 meters . Yarsagumba literally means summer plant and winter insect (dong cong xia cao) in Tibetan. In India it is usually known as ‘Kira Jhar’ which means Insect Plant . Scientific name of this herb is Cordyceps Sinensis.
Yarsa gumba is a exceptional combination of a yellow caterpillar and a mushroom (fungus). Just earlier to the rainy season, spores of cordyceps fungus infect these Himalayan caterpillars that live on moist grass and hollow soil. After the fungus buries itself in the caterpillar’s body, it works its way out through the insect’s head. The parasite gets the energy from the caterpillar. The fungus parasite gets so much into the body of the caterpillars’ that it drains all the energy from the insect and ultimately it dies. As temperature increases and the snow melts -yarsa gumba emerges and is collected at this time. During monsoon, the yarsa gumba is swept away.
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| locals searching yarshagumba |
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| Yarshagumba is found in these beautiful and remote mountains |
Yarsagumba is also known as the “Himalayan Viagra” or “Himalayan Gold” for its high medicinal and commercial value. It is mainly used as a treatment for impotency in many countries. Numerous scientific studies and research reveals that it has properties of antibiotic in it. Cordycep sinensis is used for lung and respiratory infection, pain, sciatica and backache. It also provides vitality and increases physical stamina of the body. Yarsa gumba is used by the Chinese to cure chronic hepatitis B and immune function such as dysfunctioning of liver. According to the Hawaiian health products, cordyceptin is found effective against tuberculosis as well as in the treatment of leprosy. Another major use of this is in the treatment of leukemia. It is useful for children, adults, the aged and the sick people. It energizes lung, kidney and liver; improves memory and purified blood; keeps a person physically and mentally sound. It is of great importance for men and women of any age group, players, people working in physical stress, suffering from premature ejaculation and sexually inactive ones. It gradually empowers internal energy of our body in a natural way as well as acts as a powerful aphrodisiac. Unlike Viagra, it does not cause any mental problem or any other type of physical damage or malfunctioning.
Local residents and people from surrounding regions travel to the highlands in large groups in the spring to forage for outgrowths.
Yarsagumba is relished in China and commands a high price, and revenue from its harvest helped to fund Nepal’s Maoist insurgency. It is believed to enhance male virility among many other claims but most of these putative properties await conclusive research.
With the melting of the snows in the Himalayas, hordes of villagers of Nepal’s far western region trek up to the alpine pastures near the towering Himalayan peaks where they pitch up camps for an extended stay of almost eight weeks, braving the cold and harsh environment. They spend their days mostly on all fours, crawling through the shrub lands, digging with utmost care when they espy an unusual kind of mushroom called Yarsagumba. This, they brush gently with a toothbrush, and keep it in their pickers’ basket. They come in their thousands, lured by the high returns promised for finding this unusual herb. Experienced pickers can earn over 2,500 dollars each during a good season, five times more than the annual average earnings of a Nepali. Yarsagumba is said to be the most expensive herb in the world today, a kilo of it fetching more than 10,000 dollars in the international market. Apparently, pickers at the site get a dollar apiece which eventually inflates to 30 dollars apiece in the cities. In the old days too, Yarsagumba couldn’t be said to come cheap. Travellers have noted that in 1890, black, rotten specimens cost four times their weight in silver (Cooke, 1892). In 1990, Yarsagumba cost $700/kilo in the Chinese wholesale market (Hollobaugh, 1993). Yarshagumba (Cordyceps, or also Ophiocordyceps Sinensis) is a most weird herb. One term often used—Chinese Caterpillar Fungus—is pretty descriptive of the species. So is dong chong xia cao (winter insect, summer grass) as Yarshagumba is often referred to in China.
How is it formed?
The caterpillar of a moth genus Thitarodes (Hepialus) lives underground in shrub lands of the Tibetan plateau and Himalayas (3000 m-5000 m) for almost five years before becoming a pupa. During its larva state, it is attacked by a fungus of the genus Ophiocordycipitaceae which kills the insect by filling its body cavity with mycelium. Once the weather gets warmer, mushrooms growing out of the caterpillar’s forehead emerge from the ground.
Yarshagumba’s health benefits are believed to have been known from some 1500 years ago, and in ancient times. This isolated and barren landscape is home to Buddhist communities who have lived, farmed and traded here for centuries.
But in the last few years, this peaceful region has been rocked by jealousy, crime and murder.
All this is down to Yarsagumba, the small, fragile, mummified body of the Himalayan bat moth caterpillar that has been invaded by a fungus - and which is famous throughout the Himalayas as a powerful medicine.
It is considered to be a sin to pick up a yarshagumba in Buddhist community. Each year, hundreds of Tibetan traders cross the border illegally into Nepal to buy Yarshagumba from local villagers and sell it back to China. One kilogram can fetch up to $10,000.
In June 2009, seven men from the low-lying Gorkha region of Nepal who came to the mountains to pick Yarsagumba were murdered by a local mob protecting their turf.The men were attacked with sticks and knives and their bodies thrown into deep mountain ravines.
Even though there are numbers of benefits of Yarshagumba there are more miserable disadvantages of yarshagumba's. Because it is very rare and has a high value both in aspect of health and raising poverty these rare herbs must be conserved and protected
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