In the produce aisle at your local grocery story, button mushrooms go for about $4 a pound, Shitakes cost about twice that, and black truffles can run $800 a pound. But that's nothing compared to a ...

In the hills of Nepal, a new commodity is capturing the imagination. But what exactly is ‘Himalayan Viagra’ and what is its future as a resource? Yartsa gunbu has become much coveted in Nepal Deep ...

In high-alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau, early May is an auspicious time to prostrate oneself on the loamy, reclining slopes and dig around for desiccated remnants of a medicinally hallowed ...

Tshering* has collected yartsa gunbu, one of the world’s most valuable biological commodities, from the mountains surrounding his home for more than 40 years. He lives in the remote region of Dolpa, ...

Two isolated Tibetan communities have implemented a successful system for sustainably harvesting the Himalayan Viagra, a medicinal fungus fetching big money in the Chinese market. New research from ...

The hunt for a fungus that is worth more than its weight in gold as a traditional medicine is transforming the Himalayan landscape on which it grows. To learn more, I have come to the Sowa Rigpa ...

Himalayan caterpillar fungus -- known as yartsa gunbu , and Himalayan Viagra -- is prized in traditional medicine. Its value draws thousands of people to high-altitude meadows in Nepal's Dolpa ...

Believe it or not, one of the world’s most coveted status symbols is a caterpillar with a fungus growing out of its face. I’m Anna, and this is Gross Science. On the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas, ...

It's known as the Viagra of the Himalayas, and it can cost as much as $50,000 a pound. The world's most expensive fungus is known in Tibetan as... Yartsa gunbu (Cordyceps Sinensis) sliced in half.