[MPWG] Can You Help?

[Robyn Klein]

Yes, I believe the story is retold in perhaps "Eve's Herbs: A History of 
Abortion and Contraception in the West" by John Riddle. And, I think maybe 
an article was written on Silphion in a past issue of HerbalGram. One way 
that historians know about Silphion was that the plant was imprinted on 
coins back before Pliny's day and modern day botanists couldn't find the 
plant.

Best Regards,
Robyn Klein

>This is a great question.  I hope to read a lot of answers. The only item
>I can contribute is silphion which was, as I have read, used as a
>contraceptive and an abortifacient by the Greek.  It was used to such
>an extent that Pliny the Elder, eventually, reported of its scarcity.