THE CATERPILLAR FUNGUS, CORDYCEPS SINENSIS
The story of the caterpillar fungus is a lot like the one of how the Ethiopian goat herder discovered coffee, and how salajeet was discovered by the English. In the case of coffee a goat herder noticed that after eating the fruit from a bush, his goats became livelier, while an Englishman traveling in the Himalayas saw monkeys eating a black sticky substance, and thought that this may have been why older monkeys had more hair than the ones in the plains. In the case of the caterpillar fungus Tibetan yak herders watched as their yaks became very lively and scoured the grass they had been grazing on and found this fungus.(I can’t imagine what a yak does when it becomes lively!) The fruiting head of this fungus looks a little grass-like and I guess it would be hard to spot, if you weren’t looking carefully for it.

The West discovered it when a French Jesuit priest, Jean Baptiste du Halda was introduced to it by the Chinese Emperor, whose guest he was. It first appeared in Tibetan medical writings in the 15th century and in later European Materia Medica in the 18th century.

Now cultivated C. sinensis are used in the US but no comparative studies have been done on the properties of these compared to their wild relatives.
What is certain is that it has been used in Chinese traditional medicine for centuries to rejuvenate the aging and to boost energy levels. It has also been used to promote the health of the lungs, heart and immune system. It is said to improve male sexual functions too.


Before you are tempted to buy a supplement containing this herb, try to make sure that it is genuine. Alternatively find other herbs that are native to your area to do the work you want this one to do.