[split] f2v plant ID

[-JKP-]

I am inclined to believe that the VMS You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. plant is quite close to life.

The reason I believe this is because the rhizome is remarkably accurate for its time. It not only shows the correct spiral arrangement for the leaf scars (a detail most medieval illustrators ignored), but it also shows the correct rhizome "scales" on the leading edge of the rhizome (the part that creates the new growth for the next year).

These details of the rhizome require genuine observation and knowledge of plants and would never be drawn by accident. Even the porous texture of the leaf scars has been indicated with dots.

I have not been able to find anything equivalent this early in the 15th century (I'm still looking, but I've been looking for more than a decade and haven't found it yet). Even when they started adding the leaf scars, most illustrators still neglected the leading scales (new-growth scales). Look at how the texture changes from old growth (left) to new growth (right). Also, if you look at the row of leaf scars just below the green stalk, you will see the correct curve as the scars follow the contour of the rhizome (the leaf scars follow a somewhat spiral pattern).

I posted one of these in March 2016 and the other one a year and a half ago (May 2017), but maybe some people haven't seen them, so I'll post them again:



If you understand rhizome morphology and growth patterns, this drawing cannot fail to impress. It wasn't until the Renaissance that a small number of artists paid attention to details like this and even then, most of them just brushed in an approximate root without these botanical details.

Here is a photograph of Nymphoides leaf scars (the old growth). There are slight differences in the patterns and on how bumpy the rhizome is, depending on the species. The larger water lilies have the same basic structures (also with differences in the attachment patterns and the bumpiness of the rhizome):

   

Photo Source: "Modeling Nymphoides architecture: A morphological analysis of Nymphoides aquatica (Menyanthaceae)", Jennifer H. Richards, Marlene Dow and Tiffany Troxler, American Journal of Botany, Vol. 97, No. 11 (November 2010), pp. 1761-1771.

The Nymphoides pic is too small to show the pores, so here's a Nymphaea root that shows the "dots" (the pores) in the leaf scars:


Image credit: Pairat Songpanich, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

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It's difficult to find pictures of the leading edge, the scaly part with the new growth. Nobody cares about them except botanists and gardeners (and the VMS illustrator). Some species have only a little knob, while others have a longer "finger".

The flower is shown with a definite fringe. This is characteristic of Nymphoides but not so common in larger water lilies. It has a prominent pistil. This is also a characteristic of Nymphoides, but not of larger water lilies (some of them have capsules, but they are fat, with a flat top). Sometimes the long pistil is prominent (as in these examples), sometimes not. It's easier to see when the flower is more fully opened: