[culi]

The best explanation I've heard is that it was a sterile hybrid of two Ferula species. Many Ferula have a long history of mythology behind them. Asafoetida (aka hing) is probably where the heart symbol came from (its roughly heart-shaped root was used as an aphrodisiac).

Silphium similarly had much demand as an aphrodisiac.

This hybrid likely grew in the African Mediterranean and the high demand for it, alongside its inability to reproduce through seed, is probably what led to its extinction.