I agree it's a cool illustration! It is from the herbal of Giovanni Cadomosto.
I think that the Vienna ms (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) could be the earliest copy (it's image 29, I could not find a way to directly link a single page). I guess the image once again derives from the name “Antora” (“toro” is “bull” in Italian).
The plant appears in other copies of Cadamosto's herbal, e.g.:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (the same mentioned by JKP)
The recipe also mentions a veterinary usage: “la decocione data bevere alle bestie che hanno el pissasangue presto li guarisse” (a decoction given to the beasts that piss blood soon heals them).
The text also mentions an alchemical usage: “et dicono li Alchemisti che amorsato lo rame nel suo succo imbianchisse esso Rame cossi de dentro como de fuori” (and the Alchemists say that copper plunged into its juice whitens both inside as outside).
The plant appears in the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as “antollas” (n.24). Regre Rutz proposed an identification with You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (mainly on the basis of the name and the bulbous root).
I think that the Vienna ms (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) could be the earliest copy (it's image 29, I could not find a way to directly link a single page). I guess the image once again derives from the name “Antora” (“toro” is “bull” in Italian).
The plant appears in other copies of Cadamosto's herbal, e.g.:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (the same mentioned by JKP)
The recipe also mentions a veterinary usage: “la decocione data bevere alle bestie che hanno el pissasangue presto li guarisse” (a decoction given to the beasts that piss blood soon heals them).
The text also mentions an alchemical usage: “et dicono li Alchemisti che amorsato lo rame nel suo succo imbianchisse esso Rame cossi de dentro como de fuori” (and the Alchemists say that copper plunged into its juice whitens both inside as outside).
The plant appears in the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as “antollas” (n.24). Regre Rutz proposed an identification with You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (mainly on the basis of the name and the bulbous root).