Three Nepalese villagers are missing and 12 others were injured in an avalanche in northwest Nepal where they were picking a medicinal mushroom dubbed ‘Himalayan viagra’, authorities said on Monday.
A group of 15 ‘yarchagumba’ mushroom pickers in the highlands of Mugu district were buried by an avalanche on Saturday at a remote site where a helicopter could not land due to bad weather. Rescuers went there on foot, said Mohan Bahadur Thapa, a district official on Monday.
In search of the right mushroom
Another avalanche that occurred last week in the western district of Darchula killed three ‘yarchagumba’ pickers and authorities were looking for two others still missing.
Every year, thousands of villagers in Nepal and Tibet go to pick the parasitic fungus Cordyceps sinensis, known locally as ‘yarchagumba’, which grows on the body of a caterpillar.
Considerable sums at stake
Meaning “summer plant, winter insect” in Tibetan, the parasitic fungus lodges in a caterpillar, killing it by mummifying it to grow. It is also called “caterpillar mushroom” which retains its shape.
This mushroom can fetch considerable sums in neighboring China, where it is used in herbal medicine, but it only grows over 3,500 meters and its lifespan is only a few weeks.
A vulnerable species
No definitive research has been published on the benefits of the mushroom, but Chinese herbalists believe it boosts sexual performance. Consumed as an infusion or as an ingredient in soups and stews, the mushroom is believed to treat a variety of ailments.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2020, excessive picking has reduced, by at least 30% over the past 15 years, the presence of the fungus which appears on its list of “vulnerable” plant species. threatened with extinction.