Scientists claim to have rediscovered live silphium in Turkey

The first human-induced extinction documented in the historical record wasn’t the passenger pigeon. It was a little plant with yellow flowers. However, this little herb may have pulled a coelacanth: scientists in Greece claim that it’s been still around after all, growing on a hillside in Turkey.

Most people who recognize the name “silphium” know it was a popular contraceptive in Greek and Roman times (it had one name-check in an episode of Rome), which gives the idea that humans harvested it to extinction a certain hilarity, but it was also used in many other medicines and as a spice in cooking.

Pharmacognosist Mahmut Miski of Istanbul University claims that samples of the plant Ferula drudeana from the slopes of Mt. Hasan in Cappadocia may be the same one described by ancient botanists. While studying the plant, he identified 30 secondary metabolites with several different medicinal properties. He also compared it to ancient botanical texts and drawings, and remains confident that this is the same plant.

Unlike its cousin species, fennel and carrots, silphium was extraordinarily difficult to grow on purpose, resisting all attempts to farm it. However, the conditions on Mt. Hasan are not so different from those of Cyrenea, where the plant was known in ancient times. Archaeobotanist Erica Rowan speculates that travelers could have brought the seeds there and planted them deliberate

Ancient people valued silphium so highly that it was stockpiled in treasuries next to gold, and its image can be found on surviving coins. Some speculate that our modern heart symbol comes from two silphium stalks leaning toward each other.

Miski published some of his work in Plants in 2021.