Ferula drudeana Seeds | Ferula
LATIN NAME: Ferula drudeana
COMMON NAME: Ferula, Drude Giant Fennel
Plant Profile
Ferula drudeana is known from a handful of slopes on and around a single mountain in southern Turkey, where it was described in 1900 and then largely forgotten for a century. It is a robust perennial, one to two metres tall, with a thick, deeply buried root, a rosette of large, finely divided leaves and umbels of yellow flowers that open in early summer. The whole plant smells strongly of resin when bruised. Its narrow range, its heavy root and its likeness to the plants described by ancient writers have made it a candidate in the long argument over the identity of silphium, the classical plant that was harvested to extinction. Whether or not that identification holds, the plant itself is rare, local and slow.
Science & Biotechnology
Ferula drudeana was brought back into discussion by a 2021 study that compared its morphology and its chemistry with the descriptions of silphium in Theophrastus and Pliny, and with a resin found in an ancient shipwreck. The comparison rests on the shape of the root, the smell of the gum and the pattern of the leaves; it is suggestive rather than conclusive, and other botanists have questioned it. Independent of that argument, the species is of interest because its range is tiny and its populations are small, which makes it a conservation priority in Turkish plant red lists. Chemical work on the root has identified sesquiterpene coumarins and a resin rich in ferulic acid esters, similar in broad outline to other members of the genus.
Uses & Benefits
Local people have cut the root for resin and used it as a digestive and a chest rub, which is one of the pressures on the remaining populations. Its cultivation is recent and mostly the work of botanic gardens and specialist growers rather than farmers. In a garden it behaves as a striking dryland specimen: bold, blue-green foliage in spring, a yellow crown in early summer and a stiff, architectural skeleton afterwards. It is not a plant for rich soil or irrigation, and it is not a culinary herb. Anyone growing it should keep records, because material in cultivation is scarce and its provenance matters for conservation.
Growing from Seed
Treat the seed as a challenge and start early. Sow in autumn in deep pots of gritty loam with added limestone, one seed per pot, two centimetres down, and leave them outside for a cold, wet winter. Germination can take two springs, and the seedlings are slow: a single leaf in the first year is normal. Never let the compost stay wet in summer, and never feed. Grow on in full sun, repotting only when the root fills the tube. Plant out into a deep, stony bed in autumn, water once, and then leave the plant alone. The first flowering stem appears after four or five years, and the plant dies after setting seed, so keep some seed back.
Our Take
A rare Turkish endemic with a famous question attached. Grow it for the plant itself, in deep rubble and full sun.
Related Reading
If Ferula appeals to you, these related plants are worth a look: