(08-08-2017, 08:19 PM)Koen Gh. wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.JKP: I agree that the circular things can be fruits, which would mean that the leaves have been omitted. In this case, the image is not a botanical representation but rather highlights certain parts. According to the aptly titled You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. however, the berries are very poisonous.
Just browsing the wiki, it seems that asparagus was a highly demanded import product in antiquity, but fell out of taste in the middle ages. There's also still the problem of the flowers.
Lavandula stoechas still offers the closest resemblance to the flower, in my opinion. Apparently, stoechas/sticados was considered a separate plant from lavandula before modern times. But that still doesn't explain the leaves/fruits...
A very high proportion of medieval "medicinal" plants were poisonous (mandrake is a good example, but there were many others, like Ricinus, foxglove, henbane, hemlock, possibly nightshade, monkshood, strychnine, yew, Nymphaea tuberosa, some of the milkweeds). Poisons were also used for arrow tips.
But it's not the meat of the asparagus berry that was used, it's the seeds inside the berry, so the berry was harvested and the seeds used when they ripened. In fact, there might even be an additional reason for the ferny leaves not being included in the drawing. To harvest the berries, you clip off the leafy parts so more energy goes into the berry (and the seeds), then, when they are ripe, you split them with a fingernail to get out the seeds.
The flowers on the male asparagus plant are bigger and fancier than the delicate bell-like flowers on the female plant.