The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 49r, Blue Nile Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea). This water lily is the sacred flower of ancient Egypt. The blue flowers rise and open above the surface of the water in the morning and in the evenings close and sink again. The ancient Egyptians equated this behavior with that of their sun god Isis. According to the Odyssey, the Lotus Eaters were a happy, indolent people as a result of eating the blue Nile lotus for its soporific and psychedelic effects. When Odysseus landed among them, some of his men ate their food. They forgot their friends and home and had to be dragged back to the ships. (C)