- IDENTIFICATION OF PHYTOMORPHS IN THE VOYNICH CODEX 9
(a)(b)Fig. 1.3. Agavesp.: (a) fol. 100r #4; (b)Agave atrovirens(Courtesy of Jeno Kapitany).
beyond genus difficult if not impossible. However, a conjecture might
beEryngium heterophyllumEngelm. (Mathias and Constance 1941).
This species, native to Mexico and Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas
in the United States, has similar blue inflorescences and involucral
bracts (Fig. 1.4b) and stout roots, and it also develops rosy coloring
on the stems and basal leaves (Fig. 1.4c). However,E. heterophyllum
has pinnately compound leaves, not peltate, but leaves subtend the
inflorescence and covers the stem, suggesting that the phytomorph
was drawn from a dried, fragmented specimen. This lack of concern
about the shape of the leaves also plagues identifications in the Codex
Cruz-Badianus (Clayton et al. 2009). Today, Wright’s eryngo or Mex-
ican eryngo (E. heterophyllum), is used to treat gallstones in Mexico
and has been found experimentally to have a hypocholesteremic effect
(Navarrete et al. 1990).
E. Apocynaceae
- Fol. 100r #14.Gonolobus chloranthus(Fig. 1.5).Phytomorph #14
on fol. 100r (Fig. 1.5a) appears to be the ridged fruit of an asclepiad,