Winter worm summer grass

Cordyceps is also called: “winter worm summer grass”. It means “worm in the winter, and turns to be a plant in the summer time”.

It also called as “caterpillar fungus”, of which is actually the result of a parasitic relationship between the fungus and the larva of the ghost moth; and most of it grows on the tibetan plateau, Tibet, Kham (Western Sichuan) and Qinghai province(Amdo); some other places such as: southwest of Gansu province near Labrang monastery, Northwest of Yunnan province of Deqin and mountains in Zhongdian; as well as Bhutan, Nepal and India;

it can only be collected by hand in the early summer. Since its high value for medicinal usage, the price for this natural resource has increased significantly. Additionally, it is so important that there was a holiday created for Caterpillar fungus picking, a common custom in Kham (Western Sichuan) that allows children to return home to join their families in harvesting a wild medicinal herb that provides the bulk of Tibetans’ income.