My personal cold take is that it's a forgotten aloe species/hybrid

-has weird succulent morphology as depicted in coinage

Eg https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75379-Aloe-maculata

-species that grow well (only) in the relevant regions in North Africa

-sap much less sulfurous than hing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloin

-Pliny mentions silphium as laxative/purgative

-Most of all, explains why the leading theory is still so unsatisfactory