Re: Centaurea (f02r) Bachelor's Button

["Dana F. Scott" <dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Diane,
   What a nice revelation. I am very pleased to learn that the flower is
yellow. That will help narrow the search a bit. In fact, I am not
surprised at all that the flower is yellow. The other color that I would
expect to find for flowers in the VMS is white. If my hunch is right,
yellow relates to the color of the sun and/or gold and white corresponds
to the color of the moon. Of course, this is just a guess at this point.
I would indeed be interested in knowing the colors of the other flowers,
if you have that information. It would be greatly appreciated and help
to significantly reduce the quest to identify the plants and flowers.
One of the reasons I am so interested in identifying the plants (if
possible) is to determine their true color. My focus is on the facts
concerning the VMS. If it can be shown that an assessment or an
observation is not correct, then I am pleased to discard it. I find that
the Voynicheros are excellent listeners, have a finely tuned acuity for
detail, and a great deal of patience. Thank you.

http://www.williams-nursery.com/images/centaureamacro.gif

Regards,
Dana Scott

"diane.cousteau" wrote:

> Hello!        Just writing to mention a little detail concerning your
> i.d of f. 2r as centaurea: the flower in the VMS is yellow, not
> blue....sorry, but I have never encountered any yellow centaureas.
> Maybe the author of our manuscript was
> colorblind?                                       Do not hesitate to
> contact me if you need to know the true color of all VMS plants and
> their parts, I'd love to
> help.                                            diane
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From:Dana F. Scott
>      To: voynich@xxxxxxxx ; AFScott@xxxxxxx
>      Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 5:58 AM
>      Subject: Centaurea (f02r) Bachelor's Button
>       Except for the lack of darkly checkered bracts Centaurea
>      cyanus (Cornflower; Florence Llavender) is a very appealing
>      match of the plant in  f02r. The flowers and leaves are
>      similar and C. cyanus is also a well known herbal. Deni Bown
>      writes in "The Encylopedia of Herbs & Their Uses the
>      following concerning Centaurea:
>
>          There are some 450 species of annuals, biennials,
>      perennials, and subshrubs in this genus, which occurs in
>      Mediterranean regions, Eurasia, N America, and Australia; C.
>      cyanus is found in cornfields and waste places in Europe and
>      western Asia. Various species are grown as ornamentals for
>      their brightly colored, thistle-like  flowers. Centaurea is
>      named after the legendary centaur,
>
>
>      I can imagine the appeal of Centaurea to the VMS author when
>      one understands something of the history of the immortal
>      centaur Chiron, who was in utter pain after being apparently
>      accidentally wounded by Hercules' arrow which had been
>      dipped in poison.
>
>      Greek Mythology:
>      http://www.math.
>      tk.edu/~vasili/GR_link/Greek_myth/centaur.html
>
>      Photo:
>      http:/
>      www.daisyparadise.fsnet.co.uk/daisyA-Z/A-C/centaurea%20cyanus.htm
>
>      http://www.daisyparadise.fsnet.co.uk/moredaisies/centaurea.htm
>
>      http://www.kconline.com/tg/uraniwa/Centaurea.html
>
>      ttp://www.apa.umontreal.ca/gadrat/c/Centaurea/cyanus/96072803.jpg
>
>      http://www.apa.umontreal.ca/gadrat/c/Centaurea/cyanus/96072802.jpg
>
>      http://www.apa.umontreal.ca/gadrat/c/Centaurea/cyanus/96072804.jpg
>
>      http://www.cernyseed.cz/cent.cyan.htm
>      http://www.flogaus-faust.de/photo/centcyan.jpg
>      http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~mygarden/centcy.jpg
>      http://www.earthlygoods.com/wildflowers/cornflower.html
>
>      ttp://www.viarural.com.ar/viarural.com.ar/agricultura/malezas/centaurea-cyanus01.htm
>
>      Description:
>      http://www.blue-tea.com/cyanus.html
>      http://www.gardenguides.com/flowers/annuals/bachelor.htm
>      http://hg.women.com/homeandgarden/plants/centcyan.htm
>      http://pages.infinit.net/mel3/centaurea.html
>      http://www.fleurs-des-champs.com/fic/fiches/f59.htm
>      http://www.floristikwissen.de/home/bot/c/cent_cya.htm
>
>      ttp://www.desert-tropicals.com/en_francais/Plants/Asteraceae/Centaurea_cyanus.html
>
>
>
>      Spanish: (interesting; used for inflamation of the eyes;
>      compare to Belladonna?)
>      http://lanaturaleza.hypermart.net/aciano.htm
>
>      ttp://planeta.terra.com.br/saude/plantasmedicinais/pm/centcyan.htm
>
>      Illustration:
>      http://www.rr
>      .uni-hamburg.de/biologie/b_online/thome/band4/tafel_134_small.jpg
>
>      http://www.pre1900prints.com/Botanical/CentaureaCyanus1848.htm
>
>      http://www.ipk-gatersleben.de/~ochsmann/centaurea/images/Tafel_595_01.jpg
>