Silphium (antiquity)
Silphium (also known as silphion, laserwort, or laser) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin ("laser", laserpicium, or lasarpicium). Silphium was an important species in classical antiquity, as evidenced by the Egyptians and Knossos  Minoans developing a specific glyph to represent the silphium plant. It was used widely by most ancient Mediterranean cultures; the Romans who mentioned the plant in poems or songs, considered it "worth its weight in denarii" (silver coins), or even gold. Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo. The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It is commonly believed to be a now-extinct plant of the genus "Ferula", perhaps a variety of "giant fennel". The extant plants "" and "Ferula tingitana" have been suggested as other possibilities. Another plant, asafoetida, was used as a cheaper substitute  for silphium, and had similar enough qualities that Romans, including the geographer Strabo, used the same word to describe both. Identity and extinction. The identity of silphium is highly debated. It is generally considered to belong to the genus "Ferula", probably as an extinct species (although the currently extant plants "", "Ferula tingitana", "Ferula narthex", and "Thapsia garganica" have historically been suggested as possible identities). Theophrastus mentioned silphium as having thick roots covered in black bark, about 48 centimeters long, or one cubit, with a hollow stalk, similar to fennel, and golden leaves, like celery. The cause of silphium's supposed  extinction is not entirely known but numerous factors are suggested. Silphium had a remarkably narrow native range, about , in the southern steppe of Cyrenaica (present-day eastern Libya). Overgrazing combined with overharvesting have long been cited as the primary factors that led to its extinction. However, recent research has challenged this notion, arguing instead that desertification in ancient Cyrenaica was the primary driver of silphium's decline. Another theory is that when Roman provincial governors took over power from Greek colonists, they over-farmed silphium and rendered the soil unable to yield the type that was said to be of  such medicinal value. Theophrastus wrote in "Enquiry into Plants" that the type of "Ferula" specifically referred to as "silphium" was odd in that it could not be cultivated. He reports inconsistencies in the information he received about this, however. This could suggest the plant is similarly sensitive to soil chemistry as huckleberries are, which when grown from seed are devoid of fruit. Similar to the soil theory, another theory holds that the plant was a hybrid, which often results in very desired traits in the first generation, but second-generation can yield very unpredictable outcomes. This could have resulted in  plants without fruits, when planted from seeds, instead of asexually reproducing through their roots. Pliny reported that the last known stalk of silphium found in Cyrenaica was given to Emperor Nero "as a curiosity". A 2021 paper made the case that "Ferula drudeana", an endemic species found in Turkey, is the true identity of Silphium based on similarity of appearance and production of a resin with supposedly similar properties to Silphium. However, this hypothesis has not, as of 2022, gained traction. One issue with this hypothesis is that "F. drudeana" appears to be much more closely related to other Anatolian  species rather than North African "Ferula" species which would be consistent with the origin of Silphium in North Africa. Ancient medicine. Many medical uses were ascribed to the plant. It was said that it could be used to treat cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, aches and pains, warts, and all kinds of maladies. Hippocrates wrote: When the gut protrudes and will not remain in its place, scrape the finest and most compact silphium into small pieces and apply as a cataplasm. The plant may also have functioned as a contraceptive and abortifacient. Many species in the parsley family have estrogenic  properties, and some, such as wild carrot, are known to act as abortifacients. Culinary uses. Silphium was used in Greco-Roman cooking, notably in recipes by Apicius. Long after its extinction, silphium continued to be mentioned in lists of aromatics copied one from another, until it makes perhaps its last appearance in the list of spices that the Carolingian cook should have at hand— ("A short list of condiments that should be in the home")—by a certain "Vinidarius", whose excerpts of "Apicius" survive in one 8th-century uncial manuscript. Vinidarius's dates may not be much earlier. Connection with the  heart symbol. There has been some speculation about the connection between silphium and the traditional heart shape (♥). Silver coins from Cyrene of the 6th–5th centuries BCE bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant, and is understood to represent its seed or fruit. Some plants in the family Apiaceae, such as "Heracleum sphondylium", have heart-shaped indehiscent mericarps (a type of fruit). Contemporary writings help tie silphium to sexuality and love. Silphium appears in Pausanias' "Description of Greece" in a story of the Dioscuri staying at a house belonging to Phormion, a Spartan, "For it so happened  that his maiden daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it." Silphium as "laserpicium" makes an appearance in a poem () of Catullus to his lover Lesbia (though others have suggested that the reference here is instead to silphium's use as a treatment for mental illness, tying it to the "madness" of love). Heraldry. In the Italian military heraldry, ("Silphium of Cyrenaica, smoothly cut and printed in gold; in blazon: "silphium couped or of  Cyrenaica"") is the symbol granted to units that distinguished themselves in the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa during World War II.