Perfume was coaxed from its delicate blooms, while its sap was dried and grated liberally over dishes from brains to braised flamingo. It was an excellent preservative for lentils and when it was fed to sheep, their flesh became delectably tender. Its roots were eaten fresh, dipped in vinegar. Its crunchable stalks were roasted, sauteed or boiled and eaten as a vegetable. To list its uses would be an endless task. It didn’t look like much – with stout roots, stumpy leaves and bunches of small yellow flowers – but it oozed with an odiferous sap that was so delicious and useful, the plant was eventually worth its weight in gold. Long ago, in the ancient city of Cyrene, there was a herb called silphium.
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