Robovski
Well-known member
What is silphion you might rightly ask?
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium
"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.[1][2] It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans.[3] 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). "
"But is silphion truly extinct? Thanks to a lucky encounter almost 40 years ago, and decades of subsequent research, a professor at Istanbul University suspects he has re-discovered the last holdouts of the ancient plant more than a thousand years after it disappeared from history books, and nearly a thousand miles from where it once grew. "
"In a 2021 paper published in the journal Plants, Miski descibed the similarities between silphion, described in ancient texts and depicted on Cyrenaican coins to celebrate the region’s most famous export, and Ferula drudeana: thick, branching roots, similar to ginseng; frond-like basal leaves; a grooved stalk rising towards extravagant circular clusters of flowers; celery-like leaves; and papery fruits, or mericarps, in the shape of inverted hearts. "
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium
"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.[1][2] It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans.[3] 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). "
MSN
www.msn.com
"But is silphion truly extinct? Thanks to a lucky encounter almost 40 years ago, and decades of subsequent research, a professor at Istanbul University suspects he has re-discovered the last holdouts of the ancient plant more than a thousand years after it disappeared from history books, and nearly a thousand miles from where it once grew. "
"In a 2021 paper published in the journal Plants, Miski descibed the similarities between silphion, described in ancient texts and depicted on Cyrenaican coins to celebrate the region’s most famous export, and Ferula drudeana: thick, branching roots, similar to ginseng; frond-like basal leaves; a grooved stalk rising towards extravagant circular clusters of flowers; celery-like leaves; and papery fruits, or mericarps, in the shape of inverted hearts. "