Bizarre Beasts
We’ve Been Looking For This Plant For 2000 Years
2025 • E12 Oct 20, 2025 10m
Ancient texts described silphium as a remedy for everything from tetanus to tooth ache, and a delicacy – it could do it all and was prized around the Mediterranean world. But by the end of the first century CE, it was gone. This plant has the dubious honor of being the first extinction in recorded history… or does it?
