
The mystery of silphium, a lost Roman herb (2017) - sndean
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170907-the-mystery-of-the-lost-roman-herb
======
verytrivial
The idea of finding "lost" plants immediately reminded me of this story on the
stupendously compendious "Spitalfields Life" daily blog by the notionally
anonymous "Gentle Author", whom details the past and present of a specific
part of East London.

[https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/05/11/wild-
city/](https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/05/11/wild-city/) \- "A Lost Botanic
World In Aldgate"

"Last year, I joined a group of intrepid plant hunters descending into the
depths of the last remaining bomb site in the City of London. We climbed all
the way down into the hole until we reached the level of the platforms of what
was formerly part of Aldgate East Station, until a V2 bomb dropped nearby in
the Second World War.

Consequently, the plant life that flourished in this rare haven of nature
remained untouched in all these years because the proximity of the tube line
precluded any redevelopment until now, and so the project was to record this
lost world of botanic richness at the eleventh hour. The plant species
collected included many that were once commonplace throughout the City and the
East End yet which no longer thrive here."

Of course in this case the plants are not "lost" per se, but the population is
a snapshot of a lost _ecosystem_, left untouched more or less, telling you
something about how London used to look (and smell).

~~~
rezeroed
"last remaining bomb site" \- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-
london-51361924](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-51361924)

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dnh44
The article also mentioned a former staple of the Roman dinner table called
lovage; this herb is still commonly used in Romanian cooking where it is known
as leuștean. It's quite tasty if you ever get the chance.

~~~
Nursie
It is known in the UK as well, but rarely used. There is even a Lovage liqueur
though I've never tried it.

~~~
DonaldFisk
Lovage is a perennial. It's hard to find in England, but I've bought whole
plants at garden centres, as well as at a market in Wallonia (where it's
called livèche). I haven't seen it sold as a herb in shops. It tastes like
very strong celery, but is more fragrant.

It should not be confused with a different herb, called ajwain, whose seeds
are sometimes sold as lovage in shops which sell indian spices, where you can
also buy hing, which is asafoetida, the silphium substitute.

~~~
Angostura
If anyone wants to find where to buy it in the UK
[https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-
own/herbs/lovage](https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/herbs/lovage)

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esch89
I grow medicinal herbs in my garden and really enjoyed this article, which
starts off talking about a mysterious, long-lost aphrodisiac plant and ends on
a word of warning on over-harvesting. Plants, their chemical compounds, and
their effects on the body are so fascinating!

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dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15197503](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15197503)

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JoeAltmaier
Huh. We picked fruit from what the landowner claimed were 'huckleberry
plants'. Made jam - pretty good, a little bitter but tasty. Threw the strained
seeds into the compost heap.

The next summer had the most lush patch of huckleberry plants there, complete
with plentiful fruit.

So either those weren't huckleberries, or somebody has solved the huckleberry
reproduction issue.

~~~
cygx
Probably blueberries or bilberries.

Quote from some random search result[1]:

 _Huckleberries are edible and quite tasty. The small, round berries resemble
blueberries. In fact, in some parts of the United States, huckleberries might
be called blueberries and blueberries might be called huckleberries. They 're
not the same fruit, though._

[1] [https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-a-
huckleberry](https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-a-huckleberry)

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Interesting. Do blueberries come in more astringent forms than the commercial
one? With quite a different flavor?

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hypertexthero
The seed pod of this medicinal herb may have inspired the traditional heart
shape in wide use today —
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium#Connection_with_the_h...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium#Connection_with_the_heart_symbol)

You can see visit silphium fields in Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

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ghaff
Gastropod did a podcast episode on Silphium and other "ghost foods."
[https://gastropod.com/of-ghost-foods-and-culinary-
extinction...](https://gastropod.com/of-ghost-foods-and-culinary-extinction/)

Apparently inspired by a book: Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future
of Food

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jhoechtl
silphium sounds like silvia which might derive from salvia?

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia)

~~~
asveikau
AFAIK only if you ignore a bunch of Latin and Greek phonetics.

The <ph> was an aspirated /p/ before it was an /f/.

The Romans said <v> as a /w/ sound.

Maybe someone can correct me but I don't think an [i] to [a] change or vice-
versa is that common in Latin derivates.

If you're saying "silvia sounds like salvia", maybe we should also conclude
the Latin word for "forest" also derives from that? But the etymologies are
actually totally different in that case, the similarity is just a coincidence.

~~~
grawprog
Just in case anyone was actually wondering.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia)

>The name Salvia ("salviya") derives from the Latin salvere ("to feel well and
healthy, health, heal"), the verb related to salus (health, well-being,
prosperity or salvation), referring to the herb's healing properties. Pliny
the Elder was the first author known to describe a plant called "Salvia" by
the Romans, likely describing the type species for the genus Salvia, Salvia
officinalis.

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perl4ever
Also known as "laser".

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aaron695
This is from todays

What was a great thing ruined by popularity? : AskReddit

[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ey5tm0/what_was_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ey5tm0/what_was_a_great_thing_ruined_by_popularity/)

Which fits with most of the reply's of romanticising the past.

"first genuinely effective birth control"

In the old days meant a poison when taken in a light dose probably would kill
the fetus and not you.

