12. Silphium was an unknown plant, lost to extinction, used in ancient medicine to cure a number of ailments and acted as an early contraceptive
Possessing thick roots coated in a black bark, measuring approximately 48 centimeters in length and with a hollow stalk, silphium was used extensively by ancient societies in early medicine as a plant remedy and folk curative. Among the wide-ranging recorded medical uses of silphium, it includes the treatment of fevers, indigestion, warts, and coughs. Hippocrates noted that “when the gut protrudes and will not remain in its place, scrape the finest and most compact silphium into small pieces and apply as a cataplasm”. Silphium is believed to have also been used as an early contraceptive and abortifacient, with several similar species in the parsley family known to be capable of inducing a miscarriage due to estrogenic properties.
Despite this, the identity of silphium remains unclear. It is commonly believed to belong to the Ferula genus of plant, most likely a now-extinct species of said Ferula. However, archaeobotanists note that, “because we cannot even accurately identify the plant we cannot know for certain whether it is extinct”. The precise cause of the plants extinction, likewise, is unknown. Various theories propose conditions that might have resulted in the disappearance of the ancient remedy; from over-harvesting rendering the soil infertile, to natural changes in climate precipitating desertification, or the increase in animal husbandry in the region decreasing available land.