4 ms·

Can you imagine the implications if someone can find a seed from that birth control plant(1) the roman's ate to extinction? (1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si

Can you imagine the implications if someone can find a seed from that birth control plant(1) the roman's ate to extinction? (1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium

dr_dshiv 7y ago
It might not have seeds, but have spread through cuttings. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170907-the-mystery-of-the-lost-roman-herb https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170907-the-mystery-of-t...
bobowzki 7y ago
I'm intrigued by this plant. I hope they find a specimen or a way to resurrect it.
- donatzsky 7y ago
  There's a plant (Justicia gendarussa) in Indonesia that seems to work: http://www.humanosphere.org/science/2013/04/male-birth-control-made-in-indonesia/ http://www.humanosphere.org/science/2013/04/male-birth-contr...
daveFNbuck 7y ago
My first few reads of your comment made me think you were saying the Romans went extinct due to eating too much birth control.
pushswap 7y ago
The seeds are believed to be the source of the heart shaped icon used throughout history (itself having little resemblance to the shape of our actual hearts). Cyrene's, an ancient Greek city on the north African coast, entire economy was based on growing silphium, and the heart shaped icon of its seeds can be seen on its coins. Silphium is often refered to as laser in Latin books such as the famous De Re Coquinara. There's a very close substitute spice originally from Persia but now more widely used in India called asafoetida named for its stench. Apparently the taste is very similar, but the intense smell isn't! Though it only reeks uncooked. By the late republic to early empire (which happens to be the primary time period we have for extant literature) Silphium had already become rare and soon died out. Though there's reports of early church monks sending each other seeds & stalks. It's too bad Libya is a warzone in our time, and the area comprising the ruined Cyrene was recently under ISIS control. I wonder if there was any damage or looting at the site.
pvaldes 7y ago
Extinction is forever. We should not understimate the weight of this fact. Would be like finding a californian dwarf elephant again.
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  ...except that's the point of the OP - this date is no longer extinct.
  - pvaldes 7y ago
    Phoenix dactilifera never went extinct (and the origin of this date is still questionable IMHO).
    - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
      This variety was gone, for 2000 years. The origin date was pretty firmly established. 'IMHO' is worth much less than a measurement, which indicated from 2200 to 1800 years.
      - pvaldes 7y ago
        "IMHO" there are a lot of well known problems with carbone datation. You can read about it in scientific journals and make your own opinion. Any measurement can have errors of methodology, and a wrong measurement does not have any value. Don't worship numbers just because they seem fancy or fit with a narrative. They are just that, a number. Without a genetical analysis we can not know if a plant variety is lost, or just forgotten, or a clone of a extant variety buried ten years ago. Show me the analysis before to start talking abour old ruins, caravans and lost cities.
        JoeAltmaier 7y ago
        So theres uncertainty in dating, and its only 1000 years extinct? This is more FUD.

dr_dshiv 7y ago

It might not have seeds, but have spread through cuttings. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170907-the-mystery-of-the-lost-roman-herb https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170907-the-mystery-of-t...

bobowzki 7y ago

I'm intrigued by this plant. I hope they find a specimen or a way to resurrect it.

donatzsky 7y ago
There's a plant (Justicia gendarussa) in Indonesia that seems to work: http://www.humanosphere.org/science/2013/04/male-birth-control-made-in-indonesia/ http://www.humanosphere.org/science/2013/04/male-birth-contr...

daveFNbuck 7y ago

My first few reads of your comment made me think you were saying the Romans went extinct due to eating too much birth control.

pushswap 7y ago

The seeds are believed to be the source of the heart shaped icon used throughout history (itself having little resemblance to the shape of our actual hearts). Cyrene's, an ancient Greek city on the north African coast, entire economy was based on growing silphium, and the heart shaped icon of its seeds can be seen on its coins. Silphium is often refered to as laser in Latin books such as the famous De Re Coquinara. There's a very close substitute spice originally from Persia but now more widely used in India called asafoetida named for its stench. Apparently the taste is very similar, but the intense smell isn't! Though it only reeks uncooked. By the late republic to early empire (which happens to be the primary time period we have for extant literature) Silphium had already become rare and soon died out. Though there's reports of early church monks sending each other seeds & stalks. It's too bad Libya is a warzone in our time, and the area comprising the ruined Cyrene was recently under ISIS control. I wonder if there was any damage or looting at the site.

pvaldes 7y ago

Extinction is forever. We should not understimate the weight of this fact. Would be like finding a californian dwarf elephant again.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago
...except that's the point of the OP - this date is no longer extinct.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  Phoenix dactilifera never went extinct (and the origin of this date is still questionable IMHO).
  - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
    This variety was gone, for 2000 years. The origin date was pretty firmly established. 'IMHO' is worth much less than a measurement, which indicated from 2200 to 1800 years.
    - pvaldes 7y ago
      "IMHO" there are a lot of well known problems with carbone datation. You can read about it in scientific journals and make your own opinion. Any measurement can have errors of methodology, and a wrong measurement does not have any value. Don't worship numbers just because they seem fancy or fit with a narrative. They are just that, a number. Without a genetical analysis we can not know if a plant variety is lost, or just forgotten, or a clone of a extant variety buried ten years ago. Show me the analysis before to start talking abour old ruins, caravans and lost cities.
      - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
        So theres uncertainty in dating, and its only 1000 years extinct? This is more FUD.