From the Glossary
Silphium
The Lost Wonder-Plant of Ancient Cyrene
Botany
We have its name, its ghost on old coins, its echo in a few scattered lines of ancient text. But its true voice went silent, the day the last stalk fell.
Humanity will always wonder about the full truth of silphium, its deepest powers, its sharpest mysteries, all of which died alongside it.
Are we proud? Of course not.
In The Holy & the Grail
Silphium appears as a symbol of irreversible loss and the danger of over-harvesting, echoing the book's environmental concerns about modern overharvesting of species like Pau d'Arco.