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Really expensive cordyceps
By John | July 7, 2008
These are crazy expensive. Will explain later.
Update: Ok, so I said I would explain this cordyceps stuff. From answers.com:
Cordyceps sinensis, also called Chinese caterpillar fungus, Cs-4, Dong Chong Xia Caoor, or semitake, is a fungus native to the Tibetan plateau in China. The fungus is parasitic, and grows in the moth caterpillar. Spores enter the host, germinate, and ultimately kill the larva. Although species of cordyceps are seen in Europe and the Americas, only the Chinese form has been used medically.
Pretty cool, yeah? I went looking for some more info on cordyceps and I came across this interesting little page. Among other things, there’s a picture on that page which finally showed me what I was really looking at – half caterpillar, half fungus fruiting body:
Topics: food | 1 Comment »
One Response to “Really expensive cordyceps”
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July 20th, 2008 at 12:09 am
That gives me the willies. I saw something similar on Discovery Channel, except that it was a type of fungus that affected ants. They’d essentially go crazy from it and then an ant friend would take them far away from the colony to die, so as not spread it. Said fungus eventually kills the ant and then grows (and now I assume fruits) out of its head. Awesomely gross…more gross than awesome.