The Voynich elephant

[-JKP-]

The main function of taro's root is that is provides food. This root is roundish and has several thin, long roots coming out of it. I would really love this to be Taro, but so far I'm not convinced :/
The Voynich plant's roots are long, relatively thick, look fibrous and have been painted blue. This does lend some support to Diane's idea that this plant was used to dye fabrics. Some of the roots even look like they end in fringes like some kind of scarf or carpet.
I haven't been able to find any plant like that yet though.
...

There is a species of amaranth that is called elephant-head. It's the flower spike that is elephant-like (not the leaves) but that doesn't matter if a mnemonic is enough to identify the plant. It is, however, a South American species but there are many amaranths all over the world so possibly another species also has this distinctive characteristic.

If you look very closely at lousewort (Pedicularis), you will see that the each flower looks very much like an elephant head. The leaves are not broad, they are frondy (odd pinnate) and probably not the VMS plant, but I thought I would mention it because of the striking resemblance to elephant heads and trunks.

Elephant garlic (which is actually a form of leek) has big fat heads, larger than most plants in the onion family, but as with other onions, the roots are bulbs rather than long tendrils.

There is also a palm called an elephant palm that has big fanned-out fronds like a grouse's tail. I haven't located a picture of the roots. It's native to Thailand.


So... none of those score super high in probable IDs, but there are a couple that are of special interest...


1. There is a species of Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe beharensis) called elephant's ear with deeply lacerated leaves which, when viewed from the side, curl under like an elephant's head with the long tips curling even farther like the end of an elephant's trunk. Increasing the resemblance even further, the upper outer tips of the leaves curl down like elephant's ears. Kalanchoe plants with this form of leaf are found mostly in Africa and Madagascar. The roots are usually moderately long and stringy. They are quite variable. Only some of them (east Africa) look like elephant's ears. I'm not aware of medicinal or pigment uses for this particular species and it may not have been known in continental Africa (although it was certainly within reach of ships), but it occurred to me that the blue fibrous-looking roots in the VMS could also look like river tributaries/water ways.


[Edit: added picture. Elephant Ear is also the size of an elephant, growing up to 12 feet in height. Photo credit: plantoftheweek.org]

2. Bergenia is a common northern plant called elephant ears. It has long stringy roots and, like the VMS plant, has a distinctly serrated leaf margin. Like an elephant's ears, the leaves are leathery. Some species are used medicinally or as pigment sources.