{{short description|Unidentified plant used as a seasoning and medicine}} {{about|the plant that was used in classical antiquity|the modern genus of plants|Silphium (genus){{!}}''Silphium'' (genus)}} {{Distinguish|Silpium}} thumb|right|Ancient silver coin from Cyrene depicting a stalk of silphium '''Silphium''' (also known as '''laserwort''' or '''laser'''; Ancient Greek: {{wikt-lang|grc|σίλφιον}}, {{translit|grc|sílphion}}) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine.<ref name="Tatman"/><ref name="BBC2017">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170907-the-mystery-of-the-lost-roman-herb |title=The mystery of the lost Roman herb |year=2017 |work=BBC |author=Zaria Gorvett |access-date=2018-08-27 |archive-date=2018-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517015519/http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170907-the-mystery-of-the-lost-roman-herb |url-status=live }}</ref>
It was an 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 an image of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin, called in Latin ''laserpicium'', ''lasarpicium'', or ''laser'' (''Laserpitium'' and ''Laser'' were used by botanists to name genera of aromatic plants, but the silphium plant is not believed to belong to these genera).
The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed to have become extinct in Roman times,<ref name="PlinyXIX"/> but is commonly believed to have been a relative of giant fennel in the genus ''Ferula''.<ref name="Tatman">{{cite journal |first1=J.L. |last1=Tatman |title=Silphium, Silver and Strife: A History of Kyrenaika and Its Coinage |journal=Celator |volume=14 |issue=10 |date=October 2000 |pages=6–24}}</ref><ref name="Straight Dope">[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/061013.html ''Did the ancient Romans use a natural herb for birth control?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061027000920/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/061013.html |date=2006-10-27 }}, The Straight Dope, October 13, 2006</ref><ref name="National Geographic">{{cite news |last=Grescoe |first=Taras |date=23 September 2022 |title=This miracle plant was eaten into extinction 2,000 years ago—or was it? |work=National Geographic |location= |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/miracle-plant-eaten-extinction-2000-years-ago-silphion |url-access=subscription |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925230246/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/miracle-plant-eaten-extinction-2000-years-ago-silphion |url-status=live }}</ref> The extant plant ''Thapsia gummifera''<ref name="Amigues">{{cite journal |last1=Amigues |first1=Suzanne |title=Le silphium - État de la question |trans-title=Silphium - State of the art |language=fr |journal=Journal des Savants |date=2004 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=191–226 |doi=10.3406/jds.2004.1685}}</ref> has been suggested as another possibility. Another conjecture is that it was simply a high-quality variety of asafoetida, a common seasoning in the Roman Empire, for the two were considered the same by many Romans, including the geographer Strabo.{{sfn|Dalby|2000|p=18}}
Silphium was considered highly valuable by all who held it. The plant was sung about by Roman poets and singers, who considered it equivalent to its weight in gold.<ref name="BBC2017" /> Historically, Pliny the Elder blamed silphium's valuation on "tax-farmers", and Julius Caesar directly registered silphium as "1500 pounds of laser" in the Roman treasury.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parejko |first=Ken |date=2003-05-29 |title=Pliny the Elder's Silphium: First Recorded Species Extinction |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02067.x |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=925–927 |doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02067.x |bibcode=2003ConBi..17..925P |issn=0888-8892|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Identity and extinction == [[File:Magas as Ptolemaic governor, first reign, circa 300-282 or 275 BC Didrachm.jpg|thumb|A coin of Magas of Cyrene {{circa|300–282/75 BC}}: the reverse has silphium and small crab symbols]] The identity of silphium is highly debated. Without a surviving sample, no genetic analysis can be made. It is generally considered to belong to the genera ''Ferula'' or ''Thapsia'' as an extinct or living species. The extant plants ''Ferula tingitana'', ''Ferula narthex'', ''Ferula drudeana,'' ''Thapsia gummifera,'' and ''Thapsia garganica'' have been suggested as possible matches.<ref name="Tatman" /><ref name="Straight Dope" /><ref name="National Geographic" /><ref name="Amigues"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Andrews |first1=Alfred C. |title=The Silphium of the Ancients: A Lesson in Crop Control |journal=Isis |date=1941 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=232–236 |doi=10.1086/358541 |jstor=330743 |s2cid=144108503}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parejko |first1=K |year=2003 |title=Pliny the Elder's Silphium: First Recorded Species Extinction |journal=Conservation Biology |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=925–927 |doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02067.x |bibcode=2003ConBi..17..925P |s2cid=84007922}}</ref> ''Ferula drudeana'', an endemic species found in Turkey, is considered a strong candidate for silphium based on several unusual shared features, such as the plant morphology, yellow foliage of mature plants, slow growth, resistance to cultivation from seed, and phytochemistry, including its production of an aromatic, spice-like gum resin with properties similar to those reported for silphium.<ref name="Miski">{{Cite journal |last=Miski |first=Mahmut |date=2021-01-06 |title=Next Chapter in the Legend of Silphion: Preliminary Morphological, Chemical, Biological and Pharmacological Evaluations, Initial Conservation Studies, and Reassessment of the Regional Extinction Event |journal=Plants |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=102 |doi=10.3390/plants10010102 |issn=2223-7747 |pmc=7825337 |pmid=33418989|doi-access=free|bibcode=2021Plnts..10..102M }}</ref><ref name="National Geographic" /> However, ''F. drudeana'' belongs to a lineage from the southern Caspian Sea region with no known connection to eastern Libya.<ref name = sb2018>{{cite journal |title=Phylogenetic positions of seven poorly known species of ''Ferula'' (Apiaceae) with remarks on the phylogenetic utility of the plastid ''TRNH-psbA, TRNS-TRNG'', and ''atpB-RBCL'' intergenic spacers |year=2018 |last1=Piwczyński |first1=Marcin |last2=Wyborska |first2=Dominika |last3=Gołębiewska |first3=Joanna |last4=Puchałka |first4=Radosław |journal=Systematics and Biodiversity |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=428–440 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/6015386 |doi=10.1080/14772000.2018.1442374 |bibcode=2018SyBio..16..428P |s2cid=90391176 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> This species is also considered highly imperiled, with few surviving populations, and threats posed by overharvesting for use as an aphrodisiac.<ref name="Miski" />
Theophrastus mentioned silphium as having thick roots covered in black bark, about one cubit (48 cm) long, with a hollow stalk, similar to fennel, and golden leaves like those of celery.<ref name="BBC2017"/>
thumb|Weighing and loading of silphium at Cyrene The disappearance of silphium has been suggested to be the first extinction of a plant or animal species in recorded history.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grescoe |first1=Taras |title=Eat the past to preserve the future |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-to-save-the-future-from-food-insecurity-we-should-look-to-cuisine-of/ |website=The Globe and Mail |access-date=6 March 2024 |date=15 September 2023}}</ref> The cause of silphium's supposed extinction is not entirely known, but numerous factors are suggested. Silphium had a remarkably narrow native range, about {{convert|125|by|35|mi}}, in the southern steppe of Cyrenaica (present-day eastern Libya).<ref>"Off this tract is the island of Platea, which the Cyrenaeans colonized. Here too, upon the mainland, are Port Menelaus and Aziris, where the Cyrenaeans once lived. Silphium begins to grow in this region, extending from the island of Platea on the one side to the mouth of the Syrtis on the other." (Herodotus, iv.168–198 [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herod-libya1.html on-line text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409023843/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herod-libya1.html |date=2013-04-09 }})</ref> Overgrazing combined with overharvesting have long been cited as the primary factors that led to its extinction.<ref name="PlinyXIX">Pliny, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+19.15 XIX, Ch.15] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928142511/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+19.15&redirect=true |date=2022-09-28 }}</ref> Recent research has challenged this notion, though, arguing instead that desertification in ancient Cyrenaica was the primary driver of silphium's decline.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pollaro |first1=Paul |last2=Robertson |first2=Paul |date=2022 |title=Reassessing the Role of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the Extinction of Silphium |journal=Frontiers in Conservation Science |volume=2 |article-number=785962 |doi=10.3389/fcosc.2021.785962 |issn=2673-611X|doi-access=free|bibcode=2022FrCS....2.5962P }}</ref>
Another theory is that when Roman provincial governors took over from Greek colonists, they overfarmed 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.<ref>Theophrastus, III.2.1, VI.3.3</ref> He reports inconsistencies in the information he received about this, however.<ref>Theophrastus, VI.3.5</ref> This could suggest the plant is similarly sensitive to soil chemistry as huckleberries, which when grown from seed, are devoid of fruit.<ref name="BBC2017"/>
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 hybrids are often sterile, so it is possible that silphium could not be propagated from seeds at all (which would indeed make cultivation considerably more difficult), but instead only asexually through their roots.<ref name="BBC2017"/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Johnston |first1=Ed |title=On the hunt for the mystery herb |url= https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/silphium-mystery|website=Kew Gardens |access-date=23 September 2025 |date=2 February 2022}}</ref>
Pliny reported that the last known stalk of silphium found in Cyrenaica was given to Emperor Nero "as a curiosity".<ref name="PlinyXIX"/>
== Ancient medicine == Many medical uses were ascribed to the plant.<ref name="PlinyXXII">Pliny, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+22.49 XXII, Ch. 49] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228025055/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+22.49 |date=2007-12-28 }}</ref> 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:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/fistulae.mb.txt |title=On Fistulae, Section 9 |author=Hippocrates, Translated by Francis Adams |access-date=2012-03-25 |archive-date=2012-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603172010/http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/fistulae.mb.txt |url-status=live }}</ref> <blockquote>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.</blockquote>
The plant may also have functioned as a contraceptive, aphrodesiac and abortifacient.<ref name="Straight Dope"/><ref name=Riddle>{{cite book |last1=Riddle |first1=John M. |title=Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance |date=1992 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-16876-3 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vS85LtlsnIC&pg=PA58 |access-date=2021-09-03 |archive-date=2021-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903210643/https://books.google.com/books?id=1vS85LtlsnIC&pg=PA58 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Culinary uses == <!-- {{Expand section|date=March 2012}} --> Silphium was used in Graeco-Roman cooking, notably in recipes presented in Apicius. Some historians have suggested that its use, particularly in the North African region of its origin, was extensive:<blockquote>Not quite as ubiquitous as liquamen, but just as necessary in the Roman kitchen, was the herb silphium...Life in Cyrenaica revolved around [silphium] to such an extent that the dramatist Antiphanes, in the fourth century BC, made one of his characters groan: "I will not sail back to the place from which we were all carried away, for I want to say goodbye to all—horses, silphium, chariots, silphium stalks, steeple-chasers, silphium leaves, and silphium juice!"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tannahill |first=Reay |title=Food in History |publisher=Stein and Day |year=1973 |isbn=0-8128-1437-1 |location=New York |pages=99}}</ref></blockquote>Long after its claimed 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—{{lang|la|Brevis pimentorum que in domo esse debeant}} ("A short list of condiments that should be in the home")—by a certain "Vinidarius", whose excerpts of ''Apicius''{{efn|A generic term for a cookery book, as "Webster" is of American dictionaries.}} survive in one eighth-century uncial manuscript. Vinidarius's dates may not be much earlier.<ref>Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell, tr. ''The History of Food'', revised ed. 2009, p. 434.</ref>
==Hieroglyphs and symbols for silphium== [[File:Silphium, Evans, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, 1921.png|alt=Evans's 1921 description of silphium hieroglphys at Knossos|thumb|Evans's 1921 description of silphium hieroglphys at Knossos]]
The Minoans probably used silphium as the visual reference for the hieroglyph ''psi'' (<span style="background-color: white;">15px|</span>), meaning "plant". It resembles a central shoot flanked by two stalks.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Arthur |url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924081667796 |title=The palace of Minos : a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries at Knossos |date=1921 |publisher=London : Macmillan and Co. |others=Cornell University Library |pages=§92, pp. 215-6}}</ref> Minoan fetishes with this geometry are known as psi and phi type figurines, and are also designed for their letter-like shape. This glyph developed into the modern Greek psi (Ψ).
Egyptian hieroglyphs for Libyan silphium have also been documented in archaeological publications as a balm ingredient that must be dehulled and which produces a sap or resin. In one record, it appears similar to the hieroglyph for branch (𓆱), written to be read from left to right.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fritschy |first=Wantje |date=June 2021 |title=A New Interpretation of the Early Dynastic so-called 'Year' Labels. 'Balm Labels' and the Preservation of the Memory of the King |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |language=en |volume=107 |issue=1–2 |pages=207–224 |doi=10.1177/03075133211060366 |issn=0307-5133|doi-access=free }}</ref>
thumb|150px|left|Ancient Cyrenean silver coin depicting a silphium seed or fruit Some speculation exists about the connection between silphium and the traditional heart shape (<big>♥</big>).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Favorito |first1=E. N. |last2=Baty |first2=K. |date=February 1995 |title=The Silphium Connection |journal=Celator |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=6–8}}</ref> Silver coins from Cyrene of the 6th to 5th centuries BCE bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant, and is understood to represent its seed or fruit.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=T. V. |last1=Buttrey |authorlink1=Theodore V. Buttrey Jr. |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-coins-and-the-cult/|title=The Coins and the Cult |journal=Expedition |volume=34 |issue=1–2 |date=1992 |pages=59–66 |access-date=2021-09-03 |archive-date=2021-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903165330/https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-coins-and-the-cult/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Some plants in the family Apiaceae, such as ''Heracleum sphondylium'', have heart-shaped indehiscent mericarps (a type of fruit).[[File:Illustration Heracleum sphondylium0.jpg|thumb|right|Drawing of ''Heracleum sphondylium'', showing its heart-shaped mericarp]]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:
{{Blockquote|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.<ref name="Pausanias3.16.3">Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=3:chapter=16&highlight=silphium 3.16.3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225082854/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=3:chapter=16&highlight=silphium |date=2021-02-25 }}</ref>}}
Silphium as ''laserpicium'' makes an appearance in a poem (Catullus 7) 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"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moorhouse |first1=A. C. |title=Two Adjectives in Catullus, 7 |journal=The American Journal of Philology |date=1963 |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=417–418 |doi=10.2307/293237 |jstor=293237}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bertman |first1=Stephen |title=Oral Imagery In Catullus 7 |journal=The Classical Quarterly |date=December 1978 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=477–478 |doi=10.1017/S0009838800035060 |s2cid=170172017}}</ref>).
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== Heraldry == In the Italian military heraldry, {{lang|it|il silfio d'oro reciso di Cirenaica}} ("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.<ref>"Si distinsero i soldati del 28° Reggimento Fanteria "Pavia" il cui scudo reca nel terzo quarto una pianta di silfio d'oro reciso e sormontata da una stella d'argento"." (Gaetano Arena, ''Inter eximia naturae dona: il silfio cirenaico fra ellenismo e tarda antichità'', 2008:13</ref>
<gallery> Araldiz silfio.png |Italian coat of arms {{lang|it|Il silfio d'oro reciso di Cirenaica}} Coat of arms of Lybia (1940).svg|Silphium depicted on the arms of Italian Libya </gallery>
== In popular culture == Characters in Lindsey Davis's 1998 historical crime novel ''Two for the Lions'' travel from Rome to North Africa in search of silphium.<ref>{{cite web |title=Two for the Lions |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lindsey-davis/two-for-the-lions/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=19 March 2024 |language=en |date=1999 | quote=exploring the hills and towns along the African coast ... searching for the herb silphium, a gold mine if found}}</ref>
Silphium is mentioned in the historical drama series ''Spartacus'' as a debilitating remedy commonly given to slaves to induce abortion by character Lucretia.<ref>Spartacus: Vengeance, episode 5, minute 19:42</ref>
== See also == * Necropolis of Cyrene
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == === Footnotes === {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === * {{cite book |last=Dalby |first=Andrew |title=Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices |publisher=University of California Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780520227897 |url=https://archive.org/details/dangeroustastess0000dalb}} * Herodotus. ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126 The Histories]''. II:161, 181, III:131, IV:150–65, 200–05. * Pausanias. ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Description of Greece]'' 3.16.1–3 * Pliny the Elder. ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+toc Natural History]''. XIX:15 and XXII:100–06. * {{cite web |last=Tatman |first=John |title=Silphium: Ancient wonder drug? |work=Jencek's Ancient Coins & Antiquities |url=http://ancient-coins.com/resourcedetail.asp?rsc=8 |access-date=2007-02-05 |archive-date=2007-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070330044239/http://ancient-coins.com/resourcedetail.asp?rsc=8 |url-status=dead }} * Theophrastus. ''Enquiry into plants and minor works on odours and weather signs, with an English translation by Sir Arthur Hort, (1916)''. [https://archive.org/stream/enquiryintoplan04theogoog#page/n202/mode/2up Volume 1 (Books I–V)] and [https://archive.org/details/enquiryintoplant02theouoft Volume 2 (Books VI–IX)] Volume 2 includes the index, which lists silphium (Greek {{lang|el|σιλϕιον}}) on page 476, column 2, 2nd entry.
==Further reading== * {{cite thesis |last1=Asciutti |first1=Valentina |title=The Silphium plant: analysis of ancient sources |date=2004 |url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3166/}} * {{cite book |last1=Buttrey |first1=Theodore V |last2=MacPhee |first2=Ian |title=The coins from the sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone |date=1998 |publisher=The University Museum |isbn=978-0-924171-48-2 |oclc=611613435}} * {{cite journal |last1=Fisher |first1=Nick |title=''Laser''-Quests Unnoticed Allusions to Contraception in a Poet and a Princeps? |journal=Classics Ireland |date=1996 |volume=3 |pages=73–96 |doi=10.2307/25528292 |jstor=25528292}} * {{cite journal |last1=Gemmill |first1=Chalmers L. |title=Silphium |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |date=1966 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=295–313 |id={{ProQuest|1296321392}} |pmid=5912906 |jstor=44447186 }} * {{cite journal |last1=Helbig |first1=Maciej |title=Physiology and Morphology of σίλφιον in Botanical Works of Theophrastus |journal=Scripta Classica |date=2012 |issue=9 |pages=41–48 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=212598}} * {{cite journal |last1=Koerper |first1=Henry |last2=Kolls |first2=A. L |title=The silphium motif adorning ancient libyan coinage: Marketing a medicinal plant |journal=Economic Botany |date=April 1999 |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=133–143 |doi=10.1007/BF02866492 |bibcode=1999EcBot..53..133K |s2cid=32144481}} * {{cite journal |last1=Riddle |first1=John M. |last2=Estes |first2=J. Worth |last3=Russell |first3=Josiah C. |title=Ever Since Eve... Birth Control in the Ancient World |journal=Archaeology |date=1994 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=29–35 |jstor=41770706 |oclc=5543506162}} * {{cite book |last1=Riddle |first1=John M. |chapter=Silphium |pages=44–46 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2y1qghNDdBoC&pg=PA44 |title=Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West |date=1997 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-27026-8}} * {{cite journal |last1=Selivanova |first1=Larisa |title=Растительный символ на монетах Кирены |trans-title=A Vegetation Symbol on Coins from Cyrene |language=ru |journal=История |date=2018 |volume=9 |issue=2 |doi=10.18254/S0002135-7-1 |url=https://arxiv.gaugn.ru/s207987840002135-7-1|url-access=subscription }} * {{cite journal |last=Tameanko |first=M. |date=April 1992 |title=The Silphium Plant: Wonder Drug of the Ancient World Depicted on Coins |journal=Celator |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=26–28}} * {{cite journal |last=Tatman |first=J. L. |date=October 2000 |title=Silphium, Silver and Strife: A History of Kyrenaika and Its Coinage |journal=Celator |volume=14 |issue=10 |pages=6–24}} * William Turner, ''A New Herball'' (1551, 1562, 1568) * {{cite journal |last=Wright |first=W. S. |date=February 2001 |title=Silphium Rediscovered |journal=Celator |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=23–24}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Silphium (ancient plant)}} * [http://www.motherearthliving.com/health-and-wellness/herbal-morning-after-pills.aspx Contraception In Ancient Times: Use of Morning-After Pill] by David W. Tschanz * [http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Silphion.html Silphion] at Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216030935/http://www.heartsmith.com/guide_history.html The Secret of the Heart] * ''[http://obotanicoaprendiznaterradosespantos.blogspot.fr/2014/02/bruco-fetido-margotia-gummifera.html Margotia gummifera]'' * ''[https://www.floravascular.com/index.php?spp=Ferula%20tingitana Ferula tingitana]''
Category:Abortifacients Category:Spices Category:Extinct flora of Africa Category:Holocene extinctions Category:Medicinal plants Category:National symbols of Libya Category:Roman cuisine Category:Ancient Greek cuisine Category:Edible Apiaceae Category:Undescribed plant species