this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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It depends, silphium was potentially an effective contraceptive that was harvested to extinction.
The difference in survival probably stems from a single hyphen.
Mint grows like a fucking weed. Silphium grew like a fucking-weed.
You aren’t kidding. I got four tiny spearmint plants this spring. They are growing kind of hydroponically because I have a pond.
In less than three months, those plants have exploded into huge nice-smelling bushes that are more than two feet in each dimension. They are planted in a line so there’s this walk of mint that’s almost 12 feet long.
But that’s not enough. The plants send out branches along the ground like freaking tentacles. They will spill out of a planter box, for instance.
The fast growth is why I chose this plant, but damn!
You're going to battling mint for decades to come.
My mom made that same mistake more than 20 years ago. The original plants are long gone but I am still dealing with mint in my garden and just everywhere. It takes over the lawn.
The smell when you run the lawnmower, though... Heaven
Similar is happening to Western Yews for cancer meds, I think. Whether it survives depends on how easy it is to tame if only intensive agriculture will supply the demand. And then there's the question of whether it's still the same thing -- looking at you, broiler chicken.