f18v...Dioscorides...something about those leaves

[Koen G]

Edit: and here is the 'Malva':
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That is very close to the Chigi MS indeed. The other "similar yet not quite" herb underlines how remarkable the parallels to the Malva are.

I just looked at the Morgan version and here the leaves are less finger-like: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. 
In the case of this plant (Malva), the shape of the leaves in the Morgen MS are closer to nature, while those in the Chigi MS are closer to the VM plant.

Bernd: I'm inclined to believe that the makers of the VM had access to a number of broadly medically-themed illustrated works, including a Balneis, one or more plant manuscripts, something about astrology... This is probably a reasonable assumption which not many people will debate. But I also believe one of those sources likely derived from the Dioscorides tradition. 

When the VM shows flashes of brilliance by accurately depicting botanical features, it is reasonable to think that they were drawing from nature - which they may well have done in some cases. But I think all in all the most can be explained by assuming that they made creative use of and/or misinterpreted source imagery.