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Silphion ✝
| Description | Silphium (also known as silphion, laserwort, or laser) was a plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, as an aphrodisiac, or as a medicine. It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant. The valuable product was the plant's resin (laser, laserpicium, or lasarpicium). From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphion, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source Data |
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| Rank | genus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Arthropoda : Insecta : Protorthoptera : Anthracothremmidae : Silphion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Scientific Name | Silphion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extinct | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 311 - 307 Ma Carboniferous | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Recorded Appearance | 311 - 307 Ma Carboniferous | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | terrestrial (based on Insecta) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | actively mobile (based on Arthropoda) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | chitin (based on Insecta) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | A. Handlirsch. 1911. New Paleozoic insects from the vicinity of Mazon Creek, Illinois. American Journal of Science, Series 4 31:353-377 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphion |
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Silphion latipenne ✝ species | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 311 Ma Carboniferous | 311 Ma Carboniferous |
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
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| 1911 | Silphion Handlirsch |
| 1919 | Silphion Handlirsch p. 563 |
| 1922 | Silphion Handlirsch p. 107 |
| 1992 | Silphion Carpenter p. 128 |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
