I really think we do have to be careful about being over-interpretative.
Many of the VMS drawings are vaguely reminiscent of plants we know (and
evolution won't have wrought many changes to herbally useful plants, in
my view, because relevant seeds would have been kept for growing on the
species). But they really do seem to be drawn by someone who has never
really looked at plants. Or maybe someone who did look - but drew from
memory in the absence of specimens (dry or otherwise). In short - the
plant drawings do not seem to be a record of things known, rather they
seem to remind of such records - or are intended to look like such a
record (and because the text is uninterpretable such reminding adds
verisimilitude....).