(26-02-2017, 02:26 AM)-JKP- wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Haha! I just checked the following page and there it is... ad morsum serpentis. So, the critters are directly related to the use of the plant.
In medieval herbals, many, many plants are "prescribed" for snake bite or dog bite.
Exactly. I can't find a reference to scorpions, but Plantago as a cure for the bite of rabid dogs is mentioned here:
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(ad morsum canis rabiosi)
[Edited to add] Also the above mentioned You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., which features a four-legged reptile, prescribes Plantago for serpent byte, both in the marginal Italian (morso de serpe[n]te) and at the very beginning of the Latin main text ([a]d morsum s[er]penits).
Since we are discussing the critter as "the key", I think it is worth mentioning that in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. the animal seems to be eating from one of the leaves. Of course, this detail can be the source of many speculations. It would be interesting to see if there are parallels in medieval herbals (at the moment, I can't remember similar examples). Finding comparable images could help us understand what the animal means in this case.