[split] Alternatives for "sunflower" ID

[Koen G]

I think I found an earlier European sunflower drawing (hand-drawn if I remember correctly), maybe 1520 or so?

It would be interesting for the discussion to see if it exists and what it looks like... I haven't been able to find anything earlier than Dodoens' image.

The whole sunflower thing still doesn't sit right with me, even if you allow for "old vellum". The leaves are plain wrong, they have to be heart-shaped. One could shove this away by invoking a certain form of subjectivity or impressionism, lack of drawing skills or incomplete observation. But all of those destroy the argument, because it would mean the artist was either not interested in naturalistic representation, or not capable of it. And if one or both of those are true, it means the drawing is unreliable, and does not offer sufficient ground to support the giant leap towards the New World.