A native product of Qinghai Plateau, the caterpillar fungus is known as "Winter Insect and Summer Grass". As the name suggests, it is an insect hibernating in frozen soil in winter, and when summer begins to set in late May and people begin to gather it, a grass has grown out of its head.

The caterpillar fungus is actually a kind of Claviceps purpurea. The "winter insect" is actually the larva of a moth, and the "summer grass" is a parasitic fungus living in the head of the insect. In China there are 20 or so varieties of fungi living on or in the body of an insect, and caterpillar fungus is one of them.

The caterpillar fungus grows in the meadows on the shady or semi-shady side of a mountain at an altitude of 3,500-5,000 meters. In winter, the larva is frozen solid in the soil and becomes very fragile, and it wakes up and begins to crawl about when the temperature rises. The larva has developed an unusual resistance against hunger: it can survive for 119 days without eating in a congenial atmosphere.

The caterpillar fungus is a precious traditional Chinese medicine of a sweet and warm nature. It is used for the treatment of cough and asthma, anaemia, asthenia and the deterioration of the organs.


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