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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2519737, member: 56859&quot;]Thistle was my first thought too. Artichokes are thistles and are native to Sicily.&nbsp; Perhaps it is a young artichoke although it requires some imagination or perhaps artistic license on the part of the engraver.</p><p><br /></p><p>I spent a bit of time last night going down various rabbit holes searching for the plant&#039;s identification and rationale for its inclusion on the coin</p><p><br /></p><p>Pliny&#039;s Natural History seemed a good place to start but there is much to read.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next I searched for a listing of fauna on Sicily.&nbsp; Unfortunately I didn&#039;t find a handy list which included pictures, plus it may require seeing parts of the plant or a state of development not shown on a general botanical index.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.valleyofthetemples.com/Greek_period_Agrigento" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.valleyofthetemples.com/Greek_period_Agrigento" rel="nofollow">ValleyOfTheTemples.com</a>&#039;s website (a tourism website for Agrigentum) has this to say, which might provide a lead:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;The happy geographic position, the fertility of hinterland that yielded cereals, wine and olive oil in abundance and the hilly nature of the territory that allowed stock- breeding favored the extraordinary development and prosperity of the new polis. In less than two centuries from the foundation, Akragas became one of the largest Greek cities and one of most thriving centres of Greek civilization.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Seeing that, I browsed Pliny looking for agricultural grasses, grains and cereals which could fit and which were local to Akragas.&nbsp; Eventually I had to move on to less fun (ie, non-coin) tasks.</p><p><br /></p><p>It might be fruitful to send a picture of the coin the Botany department at a Sicilian university.&nbsp; Perhaps a professor or grad student might be able to make a more educated guess.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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