Edith Sherwood Ph.D.

The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 45v Back to Plant List
folio 45v

Folio 45v. Lavender (Lavendula officinulis). Lavender was a treasured herb in the Middle Ages, it was used to “perfume the clothes of the rich and was strewn in the chests to keep away the insects. If the head is sprinkled with lavender water it will make that person chaste for as long as he keeps it on him. For the headache,” Hortus Sanitatis recommends to “take the flowers of lavandula stoeches and put them in a little bag along with bay and betony, red roses and marjoram, clove, pinks and nutmeg blossom. … If this little bag is put on the head it will soothe all pain. Lavender also had strange unspeakable virtue against apoplexy, palsy and loss of speech.” (2) (C)

(2) Freeman, M., Herbs, for the Medieval Household, The Grete Herball
(C) Plants drawn from nature