f5r

[-JKP-]

This is one of not so many plants that can boast some consensus amongst various researchers' identifications. Th. Petersen, the Finnish biologist and Steve D all consider it Paris.

Now, -JKP- You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that Paris does have four leaves (btw, hence quadrifolia), while the plant in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. has more. -JKP- suggests this plant to be trientalis europaea.

But trientalis europea has seven leaves, which (unlike Paris, the four leaves of which reveal themselves at best in "cross" only - like Kreuzblatt or Crux Christi) are explicitly resembled in its folk names in some languages (German Siebenstern, Russian седмичник). So if the author confused the number of leaves indeed, he would have been more likely to do that with Paris, and not with Trientalis, wouldn't he?

What do you think? Any other interpretations? Sherwood considers this Arnica montana.

I'm afraid that once again, I have to disagree with Sherwood's interpretation. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. looks nothing like Plant 5r. Arnica resembles yellow daisies and has multiple flower stalks. It doesn't have berry-like buds or fruiting bodies, doesn't have a long thin calyx that curves under, and the leaves don't start partway up the stalk like Paris or Trientalis (in Arnica, the basal leaves are close to the ground). There is no resemblance between Arnica and VMS 5r.


As far as numbers of leaves go... Paris quadrifolia is like clover. Clover usually has three leaves, almost always, but there are occasionally four. Paris quadrifolia usually has four leaves, only occasionally do you see five. The plant called twayblade almost always has two leaves.

But some plants are not tied to a specific number of leaves—they vary. If you look at pictures of Trientalis, you will see that the leaves vary from 5 to 8 most of the time.


Assuming the VMS plant is naturalistic, the only way Paris can have 6 or more leaves is if it's a different species. In the 15th century, you would have to travel to Thailand, China, Japan, or Mongolia to find them. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. looks quite a bit like the VMS plant (it usually has 8 leaves). The east Asian species of Paris have slightly lumpier roots. The ones that grow in India don't look quite as much like 5r as those from Japan. In India and Sichuan, they have longer stalks and there is an extra whorl of leaves instead of a skinny calyx under the part where one sees the berry on the VMS plant (maybe a climatic adaptation), so they don't match as well.

So... western species of Paris have four (occasionally five) leaves and a very skinny calyx under the "berry". Most east Asian species of Paris have a fat whorl of leaves just under the berry and sometimes as many as nine or ten leaves, depending on the species.

I use the word "berry" for convenience—it takes too long to write "fruiting body".  


I'm glad you asked for opinions. I'd like to hear them too. As it is, I don't think 5r looks very much like Paris, with the possible exception of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., which is quite a good match (but grows in east Asia). The number of leaves and shape of the leaves in 5r is wrong for You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (the western variety of Paris). You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (European star flower) fits better.

For the record, the North American version of star flower (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) has a lumpy root, 6 to 8 leaves, and looks quite similar to 5r.


If 5r is Paris quadrifolia (which I doubt), then something weird is going on.