Traditional Tibetan medicine often involves herbs and medicinal plants. However, there is a special type of fungus which is a caterpillar parasite which is worth it's weight in gold - literally. Known as yarsagumba and described as half-animal, half-plant, this is a truly unique organism and not well-understood. The fungus "sprouts" from the ass end of the caterpillar during a late stage of larvae development and grows up to 15cm. In the process, the caterpillar is mummified and kind of forms a root for the fungus. Pretty nasty looking. Anyway, 1 kg (2.2lbs) of these things is worth ~300k rupies ($3500)...and since these grow well here in the Himalayas the locals spend quite a bit of time seeking them out. The claimed medicinal effects range from anti-depressive to aphrodisiac to generally protective of bone marrow (in irradiated mice anyway). Fascinating...
We bring this up because our counterparts at the Manang clinic have encountered many cases of snowblindness in locals harvesting yarsagumba near the snowline in the Annapurna region. Apparently it's that time of year.
Snapshot of a website describing the yarsagumba. These things don't grow near us in the Everest region.
We bring this up because our counterparts at the Manang clinic have encountered many cases of snowblindness in locals harvesting yarsagumba near the snowline in the Annapurna region. Apparently it's that time of year.
Snapshot of a website describing the yarsagumba. These things don't grow near us in the Everest region.
I'm guessing that "things that grow from the ass-end of a caterpillar" is a pretty short list, but I think I just found one in the lab fridge.
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