http://www.metafilter.com/tags/fennel Posts tagged with 'fennel' at MetaFilter. Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:09:31 -0800 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:09:31 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/56821/Natural%2DContraception%2Din%2Dthe%2DAncient%2DWorld <a href="http://www.salon.com/health/feature/1999/07/01/fennel/index.html">Silphium</a> was the wonder plant of the ancient world. Originally identified by <a href="http://www.cyrenaica.org/">Greek colonists in North Africa</a>, the plant - a species of Fennel (<a href="http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/herbs/foeniculum_vulgare.html">Foeniculum</a> <a href="http://www.selfsufficientish.com/fennel.htm">vulgare</a>) - grew only in a dimunitive area near the coast and could not be cultivated. Silphium was popular as a <a href="http://www.godecookery.com/friends/frec70.htm">spice</a> <a href="http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture26/r_26-1.html">for</a> <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/historical/ant-rom-coll.html">cooking</a>, but its notoriety stems from its alleged <a href="http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/medicine.htm">medicinal qualities</a>, particularly its use as an <a href="http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/historical/artifacts/antiqua/gynecology.cfm">herbal</a> <a href="http://www.straightdope.com/columns/061013.html">contraceptive</a> (the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/sowing-the-seeds-of-love/2006/02/11/1139542445573.html">"I love you" heart symbol</a> may have originated from the shape of silphium's seed pods and its use in <a href="http://www.sisterzeus.com/Silphio.htm">sex</a>). So valuable was Silphium that it became an <a href="http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture26/r_26-1-14.html">important component of the ancient world's economy</a> and appears on <a href="http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/north_africa.html">coins</a>. It's also among the first species recorded (by <a href="http://bestiary.ca/prisources/psdetail529.htm">Pliny</a> <a href="http://www.iberianature.com/trivia/extracts_Pliny_the_Elder_Naturalis_Historia.htm">the</a> <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+toc">Elder</a>) as going extinct, probably by grazing sheep or uncontrolled harvesting. <a href="http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thapsi10.html">Or is it?</a> tag:metafilter.com,2006:site.56821 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:09:31 -0800 contraception cuisine Cyrenaica drugs egypt fennel greece health herbs history medicine natural rome spice Chinese Jet Pilot