Marco, I agree the middle picture is probably Cyclamen—it is labeled as such—but I don't think the flat top on the VMS picture on the left has the same meaning as the one in the middle...
Cyclamen has a very broad, round potato-like bulb that is sometimes somewhat flattened on the top. I have them in my garden. So the picture somewhat reflects the actual shape of the bulb. It may be stylized, but it is based on the basic shape in real life.
But the VMS picture, I'm pretty sure, does not mean these plants have large, roundish flattened bulbs. I'm quite sure they are not cyclamen or any other plant with large corms. The VMS illustrator would have drawn the leaves and the corm differently.
I spent months trying to learn the VMS plant iconography before I started identifying the plants and I'm pretty sure what the VMS illlustrator means is that these plants grow thickly in clumps with shared rhizomes...
Plants that grow like this include the borage/comfrey family, Pulmonaria, some of the mint family, etc. You have to grow them in containers or they will quickly spread via the roots and take over the whole area. I think the VMS is illustrating this kind of plant.
Also, something I've been keeping to myself, but it's hard to talk honestly about these flat-top images without revealing it, is that I think some of the flat-top plant roots might indicate aquatic plants, the ones that grow at the edges of lakes. The flat top could be the water or it could be the soil (depending on the plant) I'm not sure if it's a combination of rhizomous plants and aquatic plants, or if it's specifically wetland plants with a rhizomous habit, because the plants that grow at the edges of ponds often do spread by rhizomes, but that's my interpretation of this iconography. These are plants that grow thickly and probably spread by rhizomes (sideways roots that form new shoots).
Cyclamen has a very broad, round potato-like bulb that is sometimes somewhat flattened on the top. I have them in my garden. So the picture somewhat reflects the actual shape of the bulb. It may be stylized, but it is based on the basic shape in real life.
But the VMS picture, I'm pretty sure, does not mean these plants have large, roundish flattened bulbs. I'm quite sure they are not cyclamen or any other plant with large corms. The VMS illustrator would have drawn the leaves and the corm differently.
I spent months trying to learn the VMS plant iconography before I started identifying the plants and I'm pretty sure what the VMS illlustrator means is that these plants grow thickly in clumps with shared rhizomes...
Plants that grow like this include the borage/comfrey family, Pulmonaria, some of the mint family, etc. You have to grow them in containers or they will quickly spread via the roots and take over the whole area. I think the VMS is illustrating this kind of plant.
Also, something I've been keeping to myself, but it's hard to talk honestly about these flat-top images without revealing it, is that I think some of the flat-top plant roots might indicate aquatic plants, the ones that grow at the edges of lakes. The flat top could be the water or it could be the soil (depending on the plant) I'm not sure if it's a combination of rhizomous plants and aquatic plants, or if it's specifically wetland plants with a rhizomous habit, because the plants that grow at the edges of ponds often do spread by rhizomes, but that's my interpretation of this iconography. These are plants that grow thickly and probably spread by rhizomes (sideways roots that form new shoots).
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