Silphium

Compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) * Always check with your local State extension service when selecting plants to avoid the potential of selecting a plant that is considered invasive in your particular location.

Water conservation 2009

Silphium, as the OED says, wasA plant of the Mediterranean region, yielding a gum-resin or juice much valued by the ancients as a condiment or medicine; the juice obtained from this plant, also called LASER1.

languagehat.com: ROMAN LASER. 2005

Silphium was employed in medicine, apparently for a variety of purposes...

languagehat.com: ROMAN LASER. 2005

John Evelyn says (in his _Acetaria_) "the ancient Silphium thought by many to be none other than the fetid asa, was so highly prized for its taste and virtues, that it was dedicated to Apollo at Delphi, and stamped upon African coins as a sacred plant."

Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie

The Silphium, or _laserpitium_ of the Romans, yielded what was a famous restorative, the

Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie

Compass-plants, _Silphium_ (A) of several species, especially _S. terebinthinaceum, S. laciniatum, S. perfoliatum.

Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) 1906

The herbaceous growth is chiefly wire grass, -- Aristida sticta, Mx. and A. purpurea, Mx. Plants of the composite or aster family abound in their seasons, the most common genera being Chrysopsis, Silphium, Aster, Peterocaulon, Helianthus and Liatris.

North Carolina and its Resources. North Carolina. Board of Agriculture. 1896

Silphium, a famous medicinal plant of Lybia and of Persia, seems to have disappeared entirely.

Earth as Modified by Human Action, The~ Chapter 02 (historical) 1874

The Silphium of Greek and Roman commerce appears to have come wholly from Cyrene, that from the Asiatic deserts being generally of less value, or, as Strabo says, perhaps of an inferior variety.

Earth as Modified by Human Action, The~ Chapter 02 (historical) 1874

The peasants who tilled the earth by the Upper and Lower Nile, the shepherds who kept their flocks in the Arabian desert, in Syria, or on the Silphium meads of Cyrenaica, the wood-cutters of Lebanon and

Serapis — Volume 01 Georg Ebers 1867