# Silphium (Ferula)

*Latin *laserpicium*; its juice, *laser**

**Known today as.** An extinct plant of Cyrene in Libya, probably a giant fennel (*Ferula*).

Kind: Plant

## What does modern science say?

Extinct since antiquity, probably from overharvesting and grazing; a Turkish *Ferula* has recently been proposed as a survivor.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **unknown**: the plant is extinct, or unidentified
- **ferulic and umbelliferone derivatives**: if, as argued, it was a *Ferula*

**Mechanism.** The laser of Cyrene vanished in the first century; its nearest surviving relatives, asafoetida and other giant fennels, are resinous carminatives with sulfur compounds. The contraceptive reputation (Riddle) rests on the resin of related *Ferula* species reducing fertility in rats; a 2021 claim to have rediscovered the plant in Anatolia (*Ferula drudeana*) is under study.

**Dose.** Unknown.

**Standing.** Extinct or lost; the one drug in the Materia Medica that cannot be tested.

## What lore surrounds it?

The lost remedy of antiquity, prized as seasoning and as medicine for many ills; asafoetida was the lesser substitute (see [Asafoetida](https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/asafoetida)).

Its extinction did not end its afterlife. The historian John Riddle has argued that silphium was used in antiquity as a contraceptive and early abortifacient, the physician Soranus recommending a chickpea-sized dose monthly, and that its seed pod, stamped on the coins of Cyrene, is a real candidate for the origin of the heart symbol. Scholars take the idea seriously but treat it as an intriguing hypothesis rather than settled fact.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Cyrene.** Its image was stamped on the city’s coins; the plant was its fortune.

**Pliny.** Says that in his day only a single stalk had been found in living memory, and it was sent to the emperor Nero.

## Sources

- Pliny, *Natural History* XIX.
- Theophrastus, *Enquiry into Plants*.
- Atlas Obscura, “The Original Seed Pod That May Have Inspired the Heart Shape.”
- Riddle, J. M. (1992). *Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance*. Harvard University Press.
- Miski, M. (2021). “Next chapter in the legend of silphion: preliminary morphological, chemical, biological and pharmacological evaluations.” *Plants* 10.

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*Silphium.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/silphium

Historical description, not medical advice.