Aardvark claw imagery 1v, 55v

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 These names with the drawings are very interesting. For example: palma christi. on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Palma christi is a very common name for a variety of orchids because their roots are palm-shaped. Many of the old herbals include a drawing of a hand for the root.

Some examples include Palatino 586, Erbario 106, BNF Lat 17844, Bod Add 23 A, Canon Misc 408, Recueil, and others.

or the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. where the leaves of the plant resembles the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. composition

Prior to this (mid-15th century), there are quite a few drawings for dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris) that included a snake or dragon next to the root, but they did not usually draw the root as a dragon, as was done in Cod.icon. 26 (an exception is BNF Lat 17844 where the stalk is sitting by the dragon's back, but there is also the regular-shaped root).

The root-as dragon is hinted at in Cadamosto but it still looks mostly like a root. The root is actually drawn as a dragon in ONB 5264, which shares many similarities with Cod.Icon 26 but is earlier.