Compound plants in the VMS ?

[-JKP-]

This is cyclamen, a plant often included in so-called "alchemical" herbals. It's easy to recognize (if you know plants and you are familiar with medieval drawing styles, you don't need to see the labels to know instantly that this is cyclamen). Everything is correct about it in the sense of including the most recognizable characteristics of the plant: the scalloped leaves, the spots, the protruding flowers, the fat root.

             

It's a real plant, it grows in three places in my garden. It is reasonably well drawn for the time (if you can recognize it easily without a label, it's generally a good drawing by medieval standards).


This is also a real plant and fairly accurately drawn. It has rounded leaves and a long stalk, and the drawing is instructive because people grew it on their houses (one of the common names for Cotyledon was "house leek", also "pennywort" due to the round leaves). It was planted to ward off evil (e.g., lightning strikes). Note that Sempervivum was also called "house leek" and grows in a similar way, with dense leaves at the bottom and a long stalk (some medieval plant books made a distinction between pennywort and Sempervivum, others used the term "house leek" interchangeably):

          



This is orchid. Several species of orchid are included in medieval herbals. One of the common names was Palma Christi, which is appropriate because some of the orchids have a root that looks like a hand (others have a root that looks like testicles). So the root is a mnemonic for the shape of the root and the common name of the plant:



This plant in the VMS is probably orchid (Palma Christi). The leaves are more accurately drawn than many medieval herbals, but even if they are badly drawn, people of the time would have recognized it by the hand:

          


I don't see these as fantasy plants. They are plants drawn to be recognized by their primary features, their names, and their distinctive characteristics or uses.

Even the odd-looking one with the eyeballs makes sense (sometimes labeled Torogas). I'm pretty sure it is self-heal, which was used by soldiers as medicine in the field. The rows of faces in the roots or leaves probably represent a troupe of soldiers.