Similar plants in Botany

[Bernd]

Many VM plant parts strongly resemble plants in contemporary herbals. I do not think there is a need to introduce exotic plants not found in standard herbals. I think it's interesting that the VM plants follow the general pattern of VM imagery. The author apparently copied from a variety of sources and recombined what he liked into his own creations. With this, I would be very careful with any designations. Even if the author copied a certain plant part from a herbal, it does not necessarily mean the imagery depicts the original plant. Or any real plant at all. The only exception I am willing to accept is the VM 'Viola' which was apparently drawn from a limp live or pressed plant.

C. album, B. bonus-henricus and B. glaucum do not have red fruit. B. virgatum does, but there is no evidence it was used as a medicinal herb in Middle Europe. It was eaten as a leaf vegetable in Eastern Europe though. I'd still rate it as semi-exotic as to my knowledge it isn't described in another herbal.
Regarding Celosia, I found out that it was introduced from Subsaharan Africa to China via the maritime silk road as early as approx. AD 200 and spread throughout Asia to India from there. It's known from Indian sources around AD 1000. That's much earlier than I had imagined. Still the earliest introduction from Asia to Europe appears to be around 1570 (though I am slightly doubtful of those sources), which is 150 years too late for the VM. I'd be very surprised if the VM depicts any rare previously unattested plants from exotic locations.