silphium

Historians have made the case that silphium was driven to extinction because it was effective birth control.

Scholars believe that the heart shape is actually inspired from the Silphium seed, which was heavily used in contraception [0].

I keep hoping I'll be able to get my hands on some silphium to see what it's like.

I think the ingredient Silphium described in this dish (Now considered extinct) could be Sea Holly (Eryngium spp).

You see this with mushrooms, pot, etc going back to snake oil and silphium.

Well, silphium did everything else, so maybe it was also a flea repellent?

When they did have vaginal sex, they had a wide variety of birth control methods available, including the famous silphium but also proto-condoms and spermicidal ointments.

Despite that it was once common, very few people today have any more reason to know about it than they have to know about silphium or electrum.

I wonder if Silphium played a large role in their economies.

Unfortunately, Silphium will likely never be resurrected.

Cilantro falling out of favor from Ancient Rome is minor compared to Silphium which was an extremely popular Roman plant that went extinct, and nobody today knows what it was.

I wouldn't have submitted it if I'd had that context, this is my first time paying attention to the Silphium news cycle, but so it goes.

From silphium wiki: "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."

When I searched "Miski silphium" the first place I ran across was asking for a log in (researchgate I believe) so I just copied the DOI since its easier for folks...

Silphium used to exist which is a natural chemical birth control and there are of course less reliable methods.

My understanding is it depicts the leaves of the plant Silphium, which in the ancient world was used as birth control.

Contains Silphium, a plant which was a common ingredient in the classical world, but now no one knows exactly what it was.