The Voynich Ninja

Could the multi-point stars which presumably are used to signal a footnote and also are held by bathing nymphs be edelweiss depictions?

The edelweiss (noble-white, Leontopodium nivale) flowers have five to six small yellow clustered spikelet-florets (5 mm, 3⁄16 in) surrounded by fuzzy white "petals" (technically, bracts) in a double-star formation, see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

Similarly, the stars in the cypher manuscript have a yellow center and multiple (five, six, seven, eight or nine) white rays.

Note that in other star depictions from the 15th century, the stars are shown entirely in yellow and do not have white rays.

Please kindly share your opinions.

I think there is some ambiguity between stars and flowers going on in the MS. This is clear when you see the Virgo figure holding a star on a stalk the way she'd usually hold a flower. Or the fact that many of the figures' stars connect with a line to the "ground". No idea why though.

About Edelweiss specifically, I wonder if it was noteworthy at all in the Middle Ages. Certainly its rise in popular prominence is relatively recent.

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Perhaps earliest representation, early 15th century.

(11-01-2025, 09:35 PM)Linda Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Perhaps earliest representation, early 15th century.

British Library Add MS 41623 – An illustrated Herbal (Codex Bellunensis), early 15th century.

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Tombstone of the roman soldier Marius son of Ructinus, from the Cohors I Montanorum at Magdalensberg in Carinthia, Austria, who died in his 25th year of service. 
The unit was stationed there in the 1st century AD. 
See also the two edelweiss blossoms (Leontopodium alpinum) at the top.