Photos by @alice.zoo After the first part of the assignment, Professor Mahmut Miski brought a box of young ferula drudeana plants with him from where they had been propagated from seed in the Botanical Gardens in Istanbul. With Mehmet Ata, he planted a few of them in the garden alongside the mature plants. It takes around 15 years for Silphion plants to reach maturity, when they finally flower. The delicate plants, with their lengthy life cycle, seem especially so when you consider the threat of herds of local goats, who are easily able to make their way over the stone walls that surround the garden and graze on whatever they find. The rest of the story is online @natgeo now - follow me @alice.zoo for more images from this story along with other projects about ritual and meaning. #NatGeo #NationalGeographic #Silphion