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f52r "Ankh Root" and Pal. Lat. 1078

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• f52r "Ankh Root" and Pal. Lat. 1078

• f52r "Ankh Root" and Pal. Lat. 1078

  stopsquark > Yesterday, 06:24 PM

  I've been poking around the Cod. Pal. Lat fond on DigiVatLib and noticed a pretty interesting herbal I haven't seen many people talk about here.
  
  The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is post-VMS-- an Italian Alchemical herbal dating to the 1500s (quite late!). It's briefly discussed in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., but as he notes, it generally seems to be poorly-documented. While the manuscript doesn't label the herbs like other alchemical herbals do, it seems like there are a handful of matches for VMS plants.In particular, I was very struck by how much You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in this MS matches You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the VMS:
  
         
  
  I haven't been able to find any other roots in other manuscripts with a similar "ankh" shape, so I was pretty excited to see this one. This also suggests to me that the root shape probably isn't serving a symbolic function that is isolated to the VMS, if it's duplicated elsewhere in other herbals. I'm not good enough at Italian to confidently transcribe this or attempt an ID- does anyone have thoughts as to what plant this might be?
  
  Additionally- I did notice some other correspondences, in particular You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in this herbal and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the VMS, which both feature a plant with two heads in its roots (here called "herba illibotus"). However, the leaves don't quite line up.
         

• RE: f52r "Ankh Root" and Pal. Lat. 1078

  Linda > 48 minutes ago

  (Yesterday, 06:24 PM)stopsquark Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I've been poking around the Cod. Pal. Lat fond on DigiVatLib and noticed a pretty interesting herbal I haven't seen many people talk about here.
  
  The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is post-VMS-- an Italian Alchemical herbal dating to the 1500s (quite late!). It's briefly discussed in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., but as he notes, it generally seems to be poorly-documented. While the manuscript doesn't label the herbs like other alchemical herbals do, it seems like there are a handful of matches for VMS plants.In particular, I was very struck by how much You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in this MS matches You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the VMS:
  
  
  
  I haven't been able to find any other roots in other manuscripts with a similar "ankh" shape, so I was pretty excited to see this one. This also suggests to me that the root shape probably isn't serving a symbolic function that is isolated to the VMS, if it's duplicated elsewhere in other herbals. I'm not good enough at Italian to confidently transcribe this or attempt an ID- does anyone have thoughts as to what plant this might be?
  
  Additionally- I did notice some other correspondences, in particular You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in this herbal and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. in the VMS, which both feature a plant with two heads in its roots (here called "herba illibotus"). However, the leaves don't quite line up.

  
  The second set reminds me of Sweet potato, evidently Polynesians had found them in South America and brought them back 400 years previous to the vms carbon dating, maybe our makers saw those somehow? I have grown them and other than the bulbous part of the flower it would be drawn pretty well.
  
  
  
  However the Ai told me 
  

  Quote:Illibotus is a mythical or alchemical plant that appears in medieval esoteric botanical texts and fantastical herbals.In this tradition, the plant is typically described as "magiferous," possessing hidden, naturally occurring magical properties granted by celestial and astrological influences. It is distinct for having highly stylized, characteristic "faces" depicted on its roots in manuscript illustrations.Because illibotus belongs to pseudeponymous alchemical folklore rather than real-world botany, it has no known physical counterpart in the natural world. 

  
  This might apply to the other set too, but I thought I would look at Voynich Garden to see about any previous id's, and there are only 2, 
  
  Aristolochia
  Ethel Voynich
  I have never heard of this. Aka birthroot, is that why the circle? Used to be used for various things but that was before they figured out it causes kidney failure.
  
  
  Garden Lovage
  Edith Sherwood
  I grow this. Haven't looked at the roots lately though, i just leave them where they are. 3rd year now.
  Here is a Pic off the internet of one about as big as mine are right now. It does have hollow stems though. Could it be a mnemonic of a misunderstanding? Like, "where the stem attaches to the root, there is a hole in the middle such that air fills the space", drawn wrong, ie i meant the middle of the stem, the core of it, they thought the air went through the root before it grows stems. It still fits the description, though? 
  
  
  
  Re You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. the answers were
  
  Mandrake
  Ethel Voynich
  
  Papaver somniferum
  Anonymous (Finland)
  
  Fringed Campion
  Velinska
  
  Crowfoot
  Edith Sherwood
  
  
  Out of those I could see the Silene, but not S. fimbriata, I was thinking S. vulgaris, or maybe S. laciniatus. The leaves aren't right but they resemble them a bit when you take them off the plant, like you would do for medicine or as food, because it has clasping stems so sometimes a little bit of the clasping part would come with it.
  
  
  
  The flowers would be a good match for either. They both have spreading rhizomes, the face roots I could only see as new plants about to grow from the rhizomes?
  
  The other one with the hole, the leaves look just like what I just took out of my dark garage. It was a lilac bush in a pot, some stems with leaves grew out whiteish yellow, looked just like that picture, they are turning green now that i put it outside. I just checked and they get holes in the stems, but in the straw way. They are crazy rooters so it works the other way too, to get a circle out of strange rooting. Another crazy rooting plant is forsythia.
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