Caterpillar Fungus on radar of international smugglers

Recently 28 Tibetan nationals, including a woman, have been arrested in the Mechukha sub-division in West Siang district by ITBP personnel for allegedly trying to smuggle out the exotic mushroom whose medical name is Cordyceps Sinensis or Caterpillar fungus.
The Caterpillar Fungus is parasitic growing in alpine grass regions like Mechukha and Monigong in West Siang, Tuting in Upper Siang and Taksing in Upper Subansiri bordering China between June and August.

It is known in Tibet as Yartsa Gunbu which means 'summer herb winter worm', Yarchagumba in Nepal, Yartsa Guenboob in Bhutan and Keera Jhar or Keeda Ghas in India.

"One kg of wild fungus is sold at 30,000 to 60,000 in Nepalese currency while it fetches Rs one lakh in India," Sona Mosing, an elder of the area, said.

A study, conducted by German scholar Dr Gerhard Heller into the traditional healing systems in the state, said the fungus is rare and an exotic medicinal mushroom which is highly prized.

Heller in his writings said the fungus is in high demand in Tibetan, Chinese and traditional herbal folk medicines in which it is used as an aphrodisiac as well as a treatment for a variety of ailments from fatigue to cancer.

In early 1970s, researchers at the Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences began cultivating and analyzing various strains of cordyceps.

In 1982, they successfully isolated a strain of cordyceps that is chemically and functionally similar to the wild cordyceps, and named it CS-4 (Paecilonyces Hepiali).

Since then fermented products derived from the CS-4 strain have been studied clinically in China and other countries, and it has been used extensively by the general Chinese population.

The presence of the rare fungus in the mountains of Mechukha was first discovered by a team of scientists from France in the early August this year.

The team comprising seven botanists were on a two-month research on medicinal plants in this part of the country from June.

The study said that the fungus infects caterpillars in alpine grass and shrublands on the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas at an altitude between 9,800 and 16,000 feet.

People of the area who, are unaware of its real value, are reluctant to disclose information about buyers. They said the buyers ascertain the quality of fungus and pay them accordingly.

Another important aspect of the fungus is its collection.
"In order to collect the caterpillar fungus, we have to go to the mountains in areas along the Indo-China border," Norbu Phassang, a local collector, said.

"Since it grows on the surface, we have to lie on the ground to locate the fungus. We dig out the caterpillar by locating the movement of the fungus," he said.

Asked who the buyers were, Dorjee reluctantly said that the buyers are usually influential local people. "We do not know what they do with the fungus, but they pay us reasonably."