I think they are meant to be 3D.
This somewhat hesitant hatching is used in several of sections of the VMS for things that look like they are meant to be 3D-ish. The illustrator isn't very good at it. It seems to imply that the arrangements of the roots is not flat, but rounded (imagine roots growing around a stone and then taking the stone out). When I first saw it, it reminded me of those small round roadside Pagan temples (the ones that often have a figure inside each arch). It was the Greco-Roman version of a roadside chapel where travelers could stop to give offerings and pray.
If the top is a reference to a candelabra (menorah or otherwise) and if the roots are meant to be temple-like, then there would be a certain thematic consistency and one would wonder if the plant mnemonically represents an herb used in offerings or on certain holy days. Unfortunately, there were many of these—it could be challenging to narrow down.
There are also oil-producing plants that were harvested for lamp oil (the menorah being a example of a candle-holder strongly associated with oil).
This somewhat hesitant hatching is used in several of sections of the VMS for things that look like they are meant to be 3D-ish. The illustrator isn't very good at it. It seems to imply that the arrangements of the roots is not flat, but rounded (imagine roots growing around a stone and then taking the stone out). When I first saw it, it reminded me of those small round roadside Pagan temples (the ones that often have a figure inside each arch). It was the Greco-Roman version of a roadside chapel where travelers could stop to give offerings and pray.
If the top is a reference to a candelabra (menorah or otherwise) and if the roots are meant to be temple-like, then there would be a certain thematic consistency and one would wonder if the plant mnemonically represents an herb used in offerings or on certain holy days. Unfortunately, there were many of these—it could be challenging to narrow down.
There are also oil-producing plants that were harvested for lamp oil (the menorah being a example of a candle-holder strongly associated with oil).