[Trinity] General discussion of Trinity College MS O.2.48 Apuleii Herbarium

[MarcoP]

Also, I was looking at Herba Acantina You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

It has a root "shaped like a foot", and it seems like a number of its properties are the kind of benefits one would rather expect of a talisman than a healing herb. This seems to be related to the stones' magical properties in the other herbs, though here as far as I can see there is no mention of a stone. Is this at all something one would find in other herbals? Victory over one's enemies and such?

Hello Koen, magical plants like this can be found in popular Italian herbals.
One example is Cadamosto's You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

Another example is plant 59 from the Alchemical Herbal, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. "ad faciendum ut ameris a qualibet persona...." - in order to be loved by any person you want. Take this plant, that must be collected in the 12th day of the moon and must be collected in the name of the person by whom you want to be loved. Then wear this plant upon yourself in such a way that it cannot be seen. Then the person in whose name the plant was picked will come to you and will love you much, whether man or woman. 

I don't know if anything similar can be read in earlier medieval herbals (e.g. those in the Pseudo-Apuleius tradition). I think they likely are more strictly medical.