Caterpillar fungus

(Cordyceps Sinensis)

caterpillar fungus, sex drive, hard on, horny, sex pill

There are over 680 documented species of the sac fungus genus Cordyceps, and one of the most well known of these is the Cordyceps sinensis, colloquially known as caterpillar fungus. The scientific name's etymology is from the Latin cord "club", ceps "head", and sinensis "from China". The fungus is known in Tibetan as yartsa gunbu or yatsa gunbu.

Caterpillar fungi are the result of a parasitic relationship between the fungus and the larva of the ghost moth genus Thitarodes, several species of which live on the Tibetan Plateau (Tibet, Qinghai, West-Sichuan, SW-Gansu & NW Yunnan, all in China, and the Himalayas India, Nepal, Bhutan). The fungus germinates in living organisms (in some cases the larvae), kills and mummifies the insect, and then the cordyceps grows from the body of the insect. It is known in the West as a medicinal mushroom and its use has a long history in Traditional Chinese medicine as well as Traditional Tibetan medicine.

Names

In Tibetan it is known as yartsa gunbu [Wylie: dbyar rtswa dgun 'bu], source of Nepali:, yarshagumba, yarchagumba. The transliteration in Bhutan is Yartsa Guenboob. It is also known as keera jhar or keeda ghas in India. Its name in Chinese dong chong xia cao means "winter worm, summer grass" (i.e., "worm in the winter, [turns to] plant in the summer"). The Chinese name is a literal translation of the original Tibetan name, which was first recorded in the 15th Century by the Tibetan doctor Zurkhar Namnyi Dorje (Wylie: Zur mkhar mnyam nyid rdo rje’s [1439-1475]) in his text: Man ngag bye ba ring bsrel ("Instructions on a Myriad of Medicines"). A translation is available at Winkler. In traditional Chinese medicine, its name is often abbreviated as chong cao, a name that also applies to other Cordyceps species, such as C. militaris.

Strangely, sometimes in Chinese English language text Cordyceps sinensis is referred to as aweto, which is the Maori name for Cordyceps robertsii, a species from New Zealand. In Japanese it is known as tōchūkasō.

The English term "vegetable caterpillar" is a misnomer. Caterpillar fungus is a preferable term.

Natural history

The "caterpillar" [technically it is a larva, since it is hairless] prone to infection by the fungus lives underground in alpine grass and shrublands on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas at an altitude between 3,000 and 5,000 m (9,800 and 16,000 ft). Spending up to five years underground before pupating, the caterpillar is attacked while feeding on roots. The fungus invades the body of the Thitarodes caterpillars, filling its entire body cavity with mycelium and eventually killing and mummifying it. The caterpillars die near the tops of their burrows. The dark brown to black fruiting body (or mushroom) emerges from the ground in spring or early summer, always growing out of the forehead of the caterpillar. The long, usually columnar fruiting body reaches 5–15 cm above the surface and releases spores.

In Nepal caterpillar fungus is found on the subalpine pastures in Dolpo in Karnali Zone and Darchula in Mahakali zone. It is also common in Bhutan and India's Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand Himalayas. Reports of distribution outside of "High Asia" are erroneous and relate to other species of Cordyceps, e.g. Cordyceps militaris.

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 one of its breathing pores.

Use in Medicine

Traditional Asian medicines

The first mention of Cordyceps sinensis in traditional Chinese Medicine was in Wang Ang’s 1694 compendium of material medica, Ben Cao Bei Yao. In the 18th Century it was listed in Wu Yiluo's Ben cao cong xin (“New compilation of materia medica”).

The entire fungus-caterpillar combination is hand-collected for medicinal use.

The fungus is a medicinal mushroom which is highly prized by practitioners of Tibetan medicine, Chinese medicine and traditional herbal Folk medicines, in which it is used as an aphrodisiac and as a treatment for a variety of ailments from fatigue to cancer. It is regarded as having an excellent balance of yin and yang as it is apparently both animal and vegetable (though it is in actuality not vegetable, but fungi). Assays have found that Cordyceps species produce many pharmacologically active substances. They are now cultivated on an industrial scale for their medicinal value.

Caterpillar fungus's introduction to the world

Outside of the East, the world was largely unaware of cordyceps. This changed, when the fungus caught the world's attention due to three female Chinese athletes, Wang Junxia, Qu Yunxia, and Zhang Linli. These athletes broke 5 world records for 1,500, 3,000 and 10,000 meters in 1993 at the National Games in Beijing, China. The amount of new world records being set at a single track event caused much attention and suspicion. Following the races, the woman were expected by some, to fail drug tests for anabolic steroids. However, the athletes' tests revealed no illegal substances, and coach Ma Junren told reporters the that the runners were taking Cordyceps sinensis

In 2004 the value of a kilogram of caterpillars was estimated at about 30,000 to 60,000 Nepali rupees in Nepal, and about Rs 100,000 in India

For Free Advice Phone

0800 565 012 Free Ph NZ 00647 578 4541 World