The Voynich Ninja

Aga and I don't always agree on the interpretation of medieval scripts but, in general, I feel his plant IDs are very good.

One of the reasons I do not like the IDs of Sherwood and Sherwood is that they very frequently match up one aspect of the plant (e.g., leaf or flower) while ignoring all the others.

Aga doesn't do that. He looks at all parts of the plant. In my opinion, his IDs are some of the best.


I completely agree with his ID for You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . I have more than one ID for this plant but "dictamus" or "dittany" (which is what they sometimes called it), Origanum dictamnus is my top ID. It's also a plant I grow on my deck.     It is frequently found in medieval herbals. It is sometimes put together with the one they called false dittany (a different plant also known as Ballota).


The second ID, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , is good too. I have several IDs for this one, as well. One of the ones I blogged about is Balsam because they would collect the droplets of resin in little jugs and I think the drawing MIGHT be a stylized/symbolic version of this process BUT, I am also in favor of Aga's ID of Ajuga chamaepitys (which they often called just ajuga or just chamaepitios with several spelling variations). It has all the right characteristics (except maybe the "jugs" emerging from the bottom, this isn't quite how the flowers grow, but it's close enough for consideration regardless of this) and is also found regularly in medieval herbals.

[attachment=5018][attachment=5019] You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is a hard nut to crack.
Sometimes I think it could be a water plant because of the drops. But I have not found any medical evidence.
I also think wild asparagus is a possibility. Needles and flowers.
Another possibility, but unfortunately only in Mexico. Is it possible that something like this is also native to Europe ?

Asparagus is native to Eurasia. I have seen it in medieval herbals but it's not one of the most common ones in medieval plant books.

They used to call it Spargus. Sometimes Sparagus. You can find it in Circa Instans and a few others.

(07-12-2020, 04:23 PM)Paris Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Hi Kiamer,

Welcome

Do you know the name of the plant you saw next door ?
Do you have a picture of it ?

I think Kiamer mentioned it as the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. plant proposal of Aga's posting, Origanum dictamnus, unless i am mistaken.

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(07-12-2020, 08:06 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.You tried to plant your neighbor's weeds in your own garden?

These weeds would not be growing wild unless they live in the mountains of Crete. So not exactly weeds, per se.

Not sure if my observation is original but here it is: The first plant is most likely some species of moss, with setae and calyptrae shown quite clearly. 


I find the botanical section of the manuscript frustrating, but it appears to me that there is overrepresentation of non-vascular plants and of bog plants (Nymphaea, Drosera, mosses of many kinds). Considering the postulated subalpine origin of the manuscript, perhaps the authors had great familarity or knowledge relating to alpine bogs and their medicinal uses.

Possible fit for the image would be a species of Fissidens

Swigut, yes, I agree, moss is one of the possibilities, although I didn't get much support for the idea that some of the VMS plant drawings (two in particular and possibly a third) might be moss:

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Moss is included in some of the medieval plant books.

(03-01-2021, 10:22 AM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Swigut, yes, I agree, moss is one of the possibilities, although I didn't get much support for the idea that some of the VMS plant drawings (two in particular and possibly a third) might be moss:

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Moss is included in some of the medieval plant books.

In my mind several illustrations can be very reasonably interpreted as mosses, notably folios You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. f95r2 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (?) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. f56v (?) f52v You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. f28r f7r.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. also look tempting but the forking of the hypothetical setae argues against it - although it could be some artistic license of the author.

I agree with several of those potentially being moss.

I'm not so sure about You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . Based on the shape of the "flowers" (assuming that's what they are), it reminds me of plants like Silene and others that have vase-shaped flowers. Moss spores don't have petals.

F39r i see as Pulmonaria longifolia, native to western Europe. I think the bottom part means it is a plant that forms a mat of roots.



The shape and margin of the leaves, as well as the polkadots are portrayed, with a funnel shaped flower coming out of a dark bract, that stands above the leaves.

Linda, Pulmonaria is one of my favorite IDs for You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . That's exactly how it grows (it's in my garden in two places). Plus, the VMS plant has dots on the leaves.

It is frequently included in medieval plant books.