08-10-2016, 02:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-10-2016, 02:23 PM by Diane.
Edit Reason: details
)
Koen,
There are a good number of saponaceous plants.
Bdid1dr at Nick Pelling's blog believes (or believed) that the 'claw-like' bits at the base of folio 1v are bits of soap.
Interestingly the "fish-catching" plants are usually saponaceous ones.
If this isn't too far off the subject of soap (though I do not see it as relevant to the 'block' which started the thread) a group of such plants are those I identified as the subject of one of the botanical folios - The one with the 'pictorial annotation' of a wooden fish-hook to which a fish's mouth is attached, but not actually hooked.
extra info -
Old World species of soapberry (genus Sapindus ) provide saponin from the fruits. Since antiquity, S. mukorossi has been used in E Asia and the Himalayas as a detergent for shawls and silks and by jewelers for cleaning silver.
I have the feeling that my saying the Voynich plants are not native to the Mediterranean (or most aren't) isn't these days considered quite as outre and snigger-worthy as when I began explaining the images in 2010, so I hope the Asian information won't seem O-T either.
Cheers.
There are a good number of saponaceous plants.
Bdid1dr at Nick Pelling's blog believes (or believed) that the 'claw-like' bits at the base of folio 1v are bits of soap.
Interestingly the "fish-catching" plants are usually saponaceous ones.
If this isn't too far off the subject of soap (though I do not see it as relevant to the 'block' which started the thread) a group of such plants are those I identified as the subject of one of the botanical folios - The one with the 'pictorial annotation' of a wooden fish-hook to which a fish's mouth is attached, but not actually hooked.
extra info -
Old World species of soapberry (genus Sapindus ) provide saponin from the fruits. Since antiquity, S. mukorossi has been used in E Asia and the Himalayas as a detergent for shawls and silks and by jewelers for cleaning silver.
I have the feeling that my saying the Voynich plants are not native to the Mediterranean (or most aren't) isn't these days considered quite as outre and snigger-worthy as when I began explaining the images in 2010, so I hope the Asian information won't seem O-T either.
Cheers.