Could Silphium have been saved?

The silphium herb, native to Cyrenaica, was Cyrene's main export in its early history. As a reliable abortion inducer it was in absurdly high demand, and it was harvested to extinction in antiquity. Could measures have been taken to guarantee that it was farmed in a more sustainable manner, or diversified?
 
Perhaps 2 ways: If it could be cultivated (it is possible there were no cultivers and it was picked exclusively in the wild) and its range spread. Otherwise a plant with very similar attributes, Asafoetida, which still exists, if used more widely, might have taken the pressure off loving unto extinction Silphium.

OTL, we don't know exactly what Silphium was, perhaps a kind of giant fennel, or how effective it really was as a contraceptive (which is what I've heard it useful for, not specifically an abortion inducer), apart from ancient anecdotal sources, I believe. It apparently was used for so many things.
 
We would probably be underwhelmed by its actual reality. The writers who knew silphium when it was available describe it in fairly matter-of-fact terms. The big stories tend to come from sources that were compiled or written after it became a rare treasure, or a memory.
 
My interest in the plant isn't actually to do with it being amazing; I'm aware that it was not the only plant with these sorts of properties.

I'm more interested in it from the point of view of Cyrene's economy, which is why preserving Silphium specifically is of interest.
 
My interest in the plant isn't actually to do with it being amazing; I'm aware that it was not the only plant with these sorts of properties.

I'm more interested in it from the point of view of Cyrene's economy, which is why preserving Silphium specifically is of interest.
If it is possible to cultivate it, I suspect strongly the cultivation of it will spread far from Cyrene, so it likely won't have a major effect long term.

What it might do is make major changes in society. Or not. It would be fascinating to know what it was, and how effective it actually was.

There were lots of abortifacients in Europe, but most of them were very dangerous to use.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
We would probably be underwhelmed by its actual reality. The writers who knew silphium when it was available describe it in fairly matter-of-fact terms. The big stories tend to come from sources that were compiled or written after it became a rare treasure, or a memory.

Agreed. Scientist did a test with the closest living relative on mice, and it reliably induced abortions, but well under 100% rate. So you have a drug that induces abortion (50-80% of time), probably with serious side effects such as feeling ill or birth defects. I guess if taken every couple of months it would sort of work like contraceptive, it will cause an abortion before you felt pregnant.
 
Agreed. Scientist did a test with the closest living relative on mice, and it reliably induced abortions, but well under 100% rate. So you have a drug that induces abortion (50-80% of time), probably with serious side effects such as feeling ill or birth defects. I guess if taken every couple of months it would sort of work like contraceptive, it will cause an abortion before you felt pregnant.

I wonder what is considered the closest living relative of an herb where there is no consensus by authorities of what it was in the first place. But I assume that they were testing some sort of fennel relative? I'm curious about it, though. Do you have a link?
 
you have to wonder why no one did cultivate it... if it would grow in Cyrenaica, it should grow in lots of places around the Med. you'd think that when it started to get scarce, people would have been rather desperate to get some live plants and transplant them somewhere else...
 
you have to wonder why no one did cultivate it... if it would grow in Cyrenaica, it should grow in lots of places around the Med. you'd think that when it started to get scarce, people would have been rather desperate to get some live plants and transplant them somewhere else...

Not all plants can be cultivated easily if at all.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
I wonder what is considered the closest living relative of an herb where there is no consensus by authorities of what it was in the first place. But I assume that they were testing some sort of fennel relative? I'm curious about it, though. Do you have a link?

No, I just read a few years ago. My understanding is the herbs have overlapping ranges.
 
true, but you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to just transplant some of them, let them grow wild...

Being someone who has worked with rock gardens, some plants are absolute PITAs to transplant from the wild and keep alive, either in a garden or even a very similar habitat. Some plants live in very particular and hard to replicate ecological niches.

I think if Silphium could have been transplanted or cultivated, it would have been. And we would still have it around today.
 
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