Despite the broiling sun, people still try to climb to Hong Linh Mountain these days to look for mat nhan – or eurycoma longifolia jack - the plant which can treat all diseases. It’s unclear what diseases the plant can treat, but the mountain has been destroyed because of the people’s cupidity.
Thanh, a man in Hong Linh town, is thought to be the first one in the central province who climbed to the mountain to look for the panacea.
“I had not known about the uses of the plant until one day, when a neighbor showed me its wonderful features and asked me to look for the plant to sell to him,” Thanh said.
Thanh said at first, eurycoma longifolia jack was priced at 10,000 dong per kilo, but the price then soared to 200,000 dong per kilo and 500,000 dong per kilo at the highest peak. People have been whispering in each other’s ears that the plant can replace Viagra because it has the same use.
However, the price has plunged again to 50,000 dong per kilo. “Only local people and those keen on herbs can understand the value of the plant. Therefore, the demand remains modest. If the uses of the herb can be popularized to many people, the prices would soar again,” Thanh said.
Vui, one of the merchants, specializing in collecting the plant in Hong Linh town, also said that in the past, a kilo of the plant root was sold at 500,000 dong. “Hanoians flocked there to hunt for the plant, but they always had to wait for a couple of weeks to collect enough,” she said.
“This is a kind of precious herb which can treat all diseases, from the bone and joint-relating diseases, to infertility. I heard that in Russia or Malaysia, the herb is sold at 3-4 million dong per kilo,” she added.
However, both Thanh and Vui just collect the herbs to sell to merchants, while they do not know where the herbs are carried.
The mountain has been destroyed
At first, only the local residents in Duc Thuan ward knew about the uses of the herb, it was easy to find mat nhan plants. However, later, when the information about the uses of the plants was spread out, people have rushed to hunt for mat nhan and the plants have become more valuable and rarer.
In the mat nhan hunting movement, local people have been digging the earth to look for the herb everywhere. The Hong Linh beautiful mountain, which is praised in many songs, has become a “battle field” with many rough holes.
A lot of people, after destroying the mountain and cutting down trees in the forests to hunt for the miracle herb, have moved, leaving the mountain in desolation. They come to other land areas, where they continue digging to seek money under the earth.
It took people two hours to look for mat nhan, but only some small plants were found. As many people have been hunting for mat nhan, the plants have become exhausted. Therefore, local residents now try to look for the herbs in other localities.
It’s still unclear how wonderful the herb is, but it’s clear that the herb materials are getting exhausted, while the environment has been damaged.