What is silphium used for?

Silphium (also known as silphion, laserwort, or laser) is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans.

Is silphium a birth control?

Romantic as the reference to the ancient Greek city on the coast of North Africa was, it also apparently contained a practical note. Silphium, now extinct, was a plant used for birth control, says Dr. John M.

What did the Romans use for contraception?

Silphium. In ancient Rome and Greece and the ancient Near East, women used an oral contraceptive called silphium, which was a species of giant fennel. They would also soak cotton or lint in the juice of this herb and insert it into their vaginas to prevent pregnancy.

How was silphium used as a contraceptive?

The plant acted as an abortifacient as well as a preventative measure. A single dose of the resin from the plant would induce menstruation, effectively rendering the woman temporarily infertile. If the woman was already pregnant, the induced menstruation would lead to a miscarriage.

Can you still get silphium?

But today, silphium has vanished – possibly just from the region, possibly from our planet altogether. Pliny wrote that within his lifetime, only a single stalk was discovered. It was plucked and sent to the emperor Nero as a curiosity sometime around 54-68AD.

What did silphium smell like?

Silphium features top notes of Silphium accord and Cistus. The heart notes are Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Tobacco, Ginger, Geranium and Clove. Base notes are Frankincense, Myrrh, Cedarwood and Leather. WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME: Medicinal cotton.

Is Pomegranate an abortifacient?

Some herbal abortifacient examples include pennyroyal, mugwort, slippery elm and black cohosh. There are relatively benign substances like papaya, pomegranate, saffron and brewer’s yeast, which in very large quantities, have been shown to have abortifacient qualities.

Can lemon stop pregnancy?

While the authors of the Krest Bitter Lemon study suggested its use as a postcoital douche, it is unlikely to be effective as no published studies have been done on the effectiveness of lemon juice preparations in preventing pregnancy, though they are advocated by some as a ‘natural’ spermicide (Short et al., 2004).

What did Vikings use as contraception?

There were many used across Europe, but the Vikings were likely to have used only a few. Pennyroyal. Pennyroyal, pennyroyal, pennyroyal.

Is fennel an abortifacient?

While silphium is long-gone, extant fennel relatives have been shown to contain ferujol, a compound effective at preventing pregnancy in rats; and the seeds of Queen Anne’s lace (wild carrot), another fennel cousin with a long history as a contraceptive and abortifacient, have been shown to block the production of the …

Where can I find silphium?

The American silphium species are large flowering perennials that grow in moist areas across the eastern US from Texas north into Canada.

Could silphium still exist?

It only grew in a narrow strip of land along the coast of North Africa and farmers were unable to cultivate it. Due to the overwhelming demand for silphium, its numbers rapidly dwindled, and by the 2nd century BC, the plant was considered extinct.