Are there any traditional ways of indicating scale in mauscript drawings?

[-JKP-]

I don't see anything in any of the drawings to indicate scale.  Possibly scale isn't important.  Possibly the scale is mentioned in the text.  Maybe all the drawings were recognizable to the authors contemporaries.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is often identified as a water lily.  If it isn't a water lily something like European wild ginger (asarabacca) is a possibility if it's a smaller plant. I don't see anything to indicate scale, but I know only a little about plant drawings in manuscripts.   Can someone who knows more say if there are conventions in drawing to indicate how large the plants are?  If not are there ways to estimate the plant sizes based on any of the plant structures?

There are many ways in which scale was indicated in old herbals. Sometimes it was as simple as drawing the plant larger. At other times they put a human figure next to it to indicate it was a large plant (like a tree).

Sometimes the bole (the thicker part at the bottom) was used to indicate that it was a larger plant with a thicker stem but a smaller younger version is portrayed that can fit on the page.

Sometimes wrapping part of the plant around the margins intended to show that it was larger or longer (e.g., like a vine).

Sometimes a broken stalk indicates it's a tall plant that won't fit on the page (an idea that was probably inspired by herbarium specimens).

Sometimes another plant that is associated with the plant in nature is included in the same drawing to show scale and habit (like climbing vines that wrap around certain trees).


It's entirely possible that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is Asarum. Both water lilies and Baccara/Bachara (as it was often called) have kidney-shaped leaves, long rhizomes and flowers spaced along the creeping stem. The VMS flower does not match either one (this is neither lily flower nor Asarum flower).

Both water lilies and Asarum were commonly included in herbals at the time. Nenufar may refer to a very small lily (it's typically yellow or white and has flowers more like other flowers than like the big water lilies). But neither has a protruding hirsute pistil.

If You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. represents one of these two options, then eiither the flower was drawn from memory (inaccurately) or a dried specimen was misinterpreted (dried flowers can look quite different from the live ones) or it's a different plant.

Notice that the way the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. flower is drawn matches another plant that comes later, but which is definitely a different plant. It's almost as though a generic concept of a flower was added to some of them. If that's the case, specific identifications will be very difficult.