The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 25v, Woad (Isatis tinctoria), is a flowering plant of the Cabbage family. It has been cultivated throughout Europe, especially in Western and Southern Europe, since ancient times and was the only source for blue dye available until the end of the sixteenth century. In Medieval times, Tuscany in Italy was one of the centers of woad cultivation. The dye was used to dye textiles, and the illustrator of the VM may have used a woad-based pigment for blue paint.