The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 96r. Black hellebore (Helleborus niger) is a member of the ranunculaceae family and is therefore poisonous. In the Middle Ages people strew hellebore flowers on the floor to drive out evil influences. These same people believed that witches employed the herb in their spells and that sorcerers tossed the powdered herb in the air to make themselves invisible (1). Dioscorides describes hellebore as a purgative that is “good for ye Epileptical, Melancholicall, Frantic, Arthritical, Paralyticall.” The Grete Herball claims is will “cure gout, scruff of the head and scabies.” (2) (B)