Re: VMS -- Botany (f51r) Henbane

["John Grove" <John@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Not being a person with a green thumb and all, this isn't normally an area
of discussion I would venture into... however, two days ago at a Christmas
party the centrepiece on the table was a Christmas cactus (or so I was
told).

I told my wife that it looked spookingly like something out of the VMS, to
which
she rolled her eyes and pleaded me not to open up a discussion on the
subject!

Anyway, the leaves of the plant just happen to have the shape of f51r's
leaves.
What a coincidence that Dana would address this page now!

John,

    Oh - and Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you've all had a productive
and
happy year -- and that the next one will finally bring about our long
awaited
colour copies!!!


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dana Scott" <dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <voynich@xxxxxxxx>; <AFScott@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 2:04 PM
Subject: VMS -- Botany (f51r) Henbane


> After having examined the VMS plant in f51r at length I am reasonably
> satisfied that Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is a good match for this
> drawing. I am not completely convinced about the flowers and wonder if
> other herbals were referenced and influenced the final design. Certainly
> the leaves evolved under the artistic hand of the scribe. There may be
> deeper levels of interpretation that escape my imagination at the moment
> aside from the obvious dark beetle insect shapes of the leaves. A scarab
> perhaps? Who knows?
>
>
> Photo: (notice the shape of the leaves)
> http://www.dipbot.unict.it/orto/1063-1.html
> http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/schoepke/hyo_ni_1.jpg
>
>
> Description:
> http://www.thehimalayadrugco.com/h-hyoscyamus.htm
> http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/henban23.html
> http://www.alchemy-works.com/hyoscyamus_niger.html
> http://whitedragon.org.uk/articles/henbane.htm
> http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/15111.htm
> http://www.oneplan.org/Crop/noxWeeds/nxWeed01.htm
> http://www.canalvip.com.br/neumart/pm/hyoscyam.htm
> http://www.buyitonline.ca/ethnobotanix/p832.html
> http://giftpflanzen.com/hyoscyamus_niger.html
> http://homeoint.org/books/boericmm/h/hyos.htm
> http://www.fleurs-des-champs.com/fic/fiches/f139.htm
> http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~reynolds/Luna/FromTheWitchesBrew.html
> http://utopia.ision.nl/users/aart/flora/Solanaceae/Hyoscyamus/H.niger.html
>
> http://www.egora.fr/Tox-In/TOXIANGL/PROTOCOL/PLANTES/MONOPLAN/JUSQUIA0.HTM
>
> http://www.cwma.org/black_henbane.html
> http://www.psychicinvestigator.com/Drugs/Henbane.htm
> http://www.alchemy-works.com/herb_hyoscyamus_niger.html
> http://www.purplesage.org.uk/profiles/henbane.htm
> http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/alphalist.html
>
> Illustration:
> http://www.i-a-s.de/IAS/botanik/thome/band4/tafel_031_small.jpg
> http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~wsadee/various.html
> http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/lindman/110.jpg
> http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/library/kohler/1763_011.jpg
> http://www.rufeger.de/psychoaktiv/deutsch/hyoscyamus.niger.html
> http://www.iranflora.com/mdplant/hyoscyamus.htm
>
> Species:
> Hyoscyamus niger var. agrestris Kit.
> http://hyoscyamus.yage.net/
>
> Beetles:
> http://www.source.at/beetles/english/big/dorcus.htm
> http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~wp5k-tnd/ko.html
> http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~wp5k-tnd/94.jpg
> http://www.beetlesculpture.com/scarab1/pic26mec.jpg
> http://www.kalmeijer.net/pilledr.html
> http://www.ento.csiro.au/Ecowatch/Primary/beetles/pages/Onitis_alexis.htm
>
> http://www.photoquest.com/jcox/jcox13.shtml
> http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/scarab.html
> http://www.source.at/beetles/english/big/lucanus.htm
>
> Regards,
> Dana Scott
>
>