● Species profile
Caterpillar Fungus
Ophiocordyceps sinensis
Photo: Nicolas Merky, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons
The original cordyceps, which sprouts from ghost moth caterpillars on the Tibetan Plateau and ranks among the priciest natural products on earth. Wild harvest can't meet demand, so most supplements use a lab-fermented strain called Cs-4. Small human trials on energy and exercise show mixed results.
Historical Use and Context
Wild cordyceps, called yartsa gunbu ("summer grass, winter worm") in Tibetan, grows out of ghost moth larvae on the Tibetan Plateau. It first appears in Tibetan medical writing in the 15th century as a tonic, and Chinese medicine adopted it by the 1700s.
It went global in 1993, when Chinese distance runners broke several world records and their coach credited a tonic that included cordyceps. Wild harvest is now a major income source in parts of Tibet and Nepal, with prices that can top gold by weight.
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