The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 93r, Artichoke (Cynara cardunculus), was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans over two thousand years ago. It is a perennial thistle with a tuberous root and a blue thistle flower at the end of a tall erect stalk with alternate thistle leaves. Although the flower of folio 93r resembles that of an artichoke, the leaves and the root do not. Elecampane or Horse-heal (Inula Helenium) is a sunflower-like plant found growing wild throughout Europe, particularly Southern Europe. It grows to a height of from 3 to 5 feet; the leaves are large, the lower ones stalked, the rest embrace the stem. The many yellow ray flowers are two inches in diameter and the root is thick and branching. The ancients used the root as both a medicine and a condiment. This plant represents the plant in folio 93r much better than a globe artichoke.