Thimphu, July 22 - Cordyceps, a peculiar health weed native to Bhutan and highly valued for its medicinal properties, fetches astronomical prices at the yearly auction. This year a man from Thimphu district got the highest price for his cordyceps - Rs.351,000 for a kg!

The price for cordyceps can be compared to the highest price that the best known Darjeeling tea fetches in the international market: the Silver Tips Imperial of Makaibari Tea Estate fetches only Rs.21,000 a kg. And the best of Kashmir's saffron sells for not more than Rs.100,000.

Cordyceps is a weed that is formed when a particular species of caterpillar entwines itself on a high altitude grass, and the two dry up. The weed is also known to have aphrodisiacal properties.

In Thimphu, capital city of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a single stick of medium grade cordyceps sells for Ngultrum 50, roughly equivalent to one US dollar. However, the entire lot is sold out in auctions and hardly a few grams is available in the Thimphu markets.

The agriculture ministry holds auctions every year around this season in various districts, and the Thimphu auction saw the collector from the Naro Block of Thimphu district go laughing back to his village, according to a report by the Bhutan Today News Service.

Cordyceps are grown at altitudes beyond 2,500 metres and the collectors are nomadic people whose only livelihood comes from this once-a-year auction.