Plant in f7v 'has dots on its leaves'

[-JKP-]

Hello JKP, 

I didn't know that dots could stand for 'hairiness' or other characteristics - thank you. 

In the case of f7v, the fact that the plant is hairy would be denoted twice then, since the drawer already put plenty of little hair-like strokes around all the leaves. 

But do you know of other examples in medieval herbals where something is signified by one single dot per leaf?

Yes, I know plants where the plant is signified by one single dot per leaf and it might in fact be the ID for the plant in the small-plants section that is drawn very distinctly with a single dot on each leaf. The one in the small-plants section might be Butcher's Broom (Ruscus, sometimes called Bruscus in medieval herbals). It's widely included in herbals.


But the one with one dot per leaf in the big-plants section I'm pretty sure is something different. I'm familiar with the plant, recognized the general type the first time I saw it, and it has characteristically red and green leaves just as drawn, flowers just as depicted, and gets "rust" spots on the leaves (I don't think it's actually rust, which is a plant disease, although it might be) and looks exactly like the VMS drawing.


There is also a plant that grows in Turkey that is similar (but not completely the same) as the big-plant drawing with the single dot that characteristically catches a drop of dew in its leaves (the leaves are slightly cupped) that might well be depicted with a single dot on the leaves. I can't remember the species since it's not a widely distributed plant and I haven't found it in traditional herbals, but the VMS is unique in many ways, so I don't want to discount a plant just because other illustrators didn't include it.