The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 20v, Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), is an artichoke thistle and a native of the Mediterranean where it was domesticated in ancient times. The blue flowers can be eaten like a cultivated artichoke and were popular as a vegetable in medieval times. The thin, spear-shaped leaves are in pairs along the stems of the plant and are covered with nearly invisible spines like those shown in Folio 20v.