[Pollinator] Fwd: Caterpillar medicine

[Peter Bernhardt]

This  photo must stand alone.  We flew from Li-Jiang back to Kunming
yesterday afternoon.  While Dr Ren picked up his luggage I saw this long,
illuminated poster outside the exit.  This shows how traditional remedies
have been modernized here in China.

Do you see what's supposed to be the "active ingredient" in these "very
gras" tablets (no, I don't know what very gras means)?  Many of you know
about the famous vegetable caterpillars.  A big, fat larva, usually of a
saw fly (a primitive wasp-like insect), Drs Fortier and Camilo may want to
comment here becomes infected with fungus, dies and is sort of mummified.
Eventually, the fungus "fruits." It develops a stalk (that black horn
emerged from the larva's head) and the corpse is pushed up out of the
thatch or moss to stand upright or lie upon the ground.   It's quite a
 lucrative industry through much of rural, montane Asia.   The final
product is marketed, in particular, to older people and is supposed to
increase the strength of the body's immune system.

You see all sorts of these remedies advertised on Chinese television.  In
particular, the Chinese seem to have perfected the "infomercial."  Some old
man, wearing a mandarin jacket, sits in front of the camera, talking to a
well-dressed younger woman, about how his treatments work better than
others.   Meanwhile, the camera cuts to "before and after" footage.  I note
that the patients in these videos all seem to belong to the over 50 crowd.
Maybe I could use some very gras?

Peter
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