The things on the ends of leaves

[davidjackson]

That's a very interesting observation by EllieV.

However, I fear it will just be a representation of a cucumber plant or something.

[-JKP-]

I can't say that it looks like the drawings that I have see of squirting cucumbers. I am inclined to the view that these are not part of the plants, but objects attached to the ends of leaves.

I've seen a lot of medieval drawings of squirting cucumber and they are basically drawn like that with bumpy edges and a row of dots along the side.
 Some included flowers, some didn't, but what one notices when one grows cucumber or squash is the way the flowers stay around, on the end of the fruiting body, even after the cucumber has grown a few inches. Assuming it's a literal depiction, this might be what the drawing is trying to express.


I'm pretty sure the one that looks like a squirting cucumber is different from the others. The first image you posted has the petals at the ends of leaves rather than at the ends of a fruiting body. The bottom one has the petals at the end of the fruiting body. Don't forget, it's the core of the flowers that turn into fruit/seeds, so it's not anomalous to see both.

It's also not uncommon to see things that look like petals at the ends of leaves in tiered rows. There are many plants that don't actually have petals, what they have is modified colored leaves that look like petals but are structurally more similar to leaves (except they have color and a different size and sometimes even a slightly different shape, but they are not petals).


The drawings are a bit stylized but they really aren't far from what mother nature invents. The top drawing has captured the structure of the stalk very well.

[-JKP-]

In post #8 you asked which part of the plant the big bulbous thing was.

It's probably a tuber/bulb, like a turnip or something along those lines.

The fact that there are more roots and bumps coming out of the end is normal. Tubers often have additional root structures and there are numerous roots that get little bumps on them. Sometimes the bump is part of the root (like the nitrogen-fixing nodules on some plants), sometimes the bump is an infestation (which are common to specific plants).

Saxifraga granulata has a tuberlike part (not quite like a turnip, but a swelling at the base) and then a lot of little brown nodules scattered around it and extending from it. It also has rounded leaves like in the VMS drawing. If you stretched out the parts at the base to show them more clearly, it might turn out something like the VMS drawing.

There's also a tuberous Ranunculus that looks a bit like the VMS drawing (including the leaves) except that it's a basal whorl, not odd-pinnate.

The overall drawing has some similarities to Corydalis cava, which they used to call Fumaria bulbosa or Fumo terra in the old manuscripts.


The fact that the rootlike things twine around and connect is not natural, they don't usually do that, but again, maybe the lower part is stylized or mnemonic.

[-JKP-]

Bi3, the plant on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. looks very natural to me. Euphorbias have that little vase-like structure at the ends of the stalks (it's quite distinctive) and the leaves are rounded, they overlap and are sometimes tiered. All of which are reflected in the VMS drawing.

Euphorbia apios has these characteristics and also has the rounded tuber. As the fruit grows, the long strands at the top that look like whiskers are less noticeable.


It's an old blog (2013), I could probably do a better job now, but I included some illustrations of the individual parts You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

[bi3mw]

Euphorbia apios has these characteristics and also has the rounded tuber.

@JKP: Well, Euphorbia apios is a possibility. But the upper part (left) in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. looks strangely "put on" to me. Just as if it did not belong to the rest of the plant. Of course it can also be a perspective problem.

[Aga Tentakulus]

There are some places that look similar.
Problem with vegetables, they are usually eaten before they bloom. Therefore few pictures of the flowers.
Here a possible example:   Rattail radish :  Raphanus caudatus