Half-herb and half-insect, the Yarchagumba is special to Nepal

by ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY

FROM ISSUE # 117 (September 2005) | IN THIS ISSUE
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An insect that grows a plant from the top of its head and is said to have medicinal powers that can cure cancer. Cordyceps Sinesis is a fungus locally called yarchagumba, known for its high value in the traditional medicine market. It is used in Chinese herbal medicine and is said to be good for everything ranging from headaches, stomach aches, respiratory diseases, arresting bleeding, dispelling phlegm to curing impotency.

Yarchagumba is special to Nepal. North-western regions of Dolpo and Humla, where it is found, is going through a gold rush of some sort as schools close because even students go hunting for this strange living thing.

Every year, after the snow starts to melt in May, herb hunters scour the sub-alpine region (a high-altitude grassland located below the treeline of a mountain) looking for yarchagumba. They grow at altitudes of 3,300-4,500m. The word yarchagumba means 'herb of life' in the local lingo while Tibetans interpret it as 'summer grass, winter insect'.

What is known as the herb of life is ironically a rare species of parasitic lichen Cordyceps Sinesis. Spores of the fungus land on the heads of caterpillars of the moth Hepilus fabricius. The fungus thrives on the larvae that lives underground tapping on its energy and eventually killing it. This results in the legendary yarchagumba.

Until recently, collecting yarchagumba was illegal but this changed once the government realised it could earn a lucrative amount from the trade while providing relief to the mountain people by allowing them to collect the herb. The government now charges Rs 20,000 per kilo from businessmen for a permit while the Maoists who control the area take a cut of Rs 5,000 per kilo directly from the collectors. A kilo of yarchagumba (around 3,500 pieces) today fetches anywhere between $2,000-2,500 from Tibetan and Chinese traders. Depending on quality and size of the product, middlemen sell it by the sackload in Thailand, Korea, China and Japan for $2,800 per kg.

And, as is usually the case with natural resources, products based on the herb have already hit the market and caused a hankering for health goods. Yarchagumba tea manufactured by Everest Herbs sell for Rs 350 a box (25 packets) and is available in local department stores.