silphium
Sign in to saveAlso known as silphion, laserwort
thumb|right|Ancient silver coin from Cyrene depicting a stalk of silphium Silphium (also known as laserwort or laser; Ancient Greek: , ) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine.
Described at
This miracle plant was eaten into extinction 2,000 years ago—or was it? | National Geographic
Silphion cured diseases and made food tasty, but Emperor Nero allegedly consumed the last stalk. Now, a Turkish researcher thinks he’s found a botanical survivor.
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Article
13 sectionsContents
- Identity and extinction
- Ancient medicine
- Culinary uses
- Hieroglyphs and symbols for silphium
- Heraldry
- In popular culture
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Footnotes
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|right|Ancient silver coin from Cyrene depicting a stalk of silphium Silphium (also known as laserwort or laser; Ancient Greek: , ) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine.
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).