Edith Sherwood Ph.D. and Erica Sherwood

The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 20r Back to Plant List
folio 20r

Folio 20r, Milk vetch (Astragalus hypoglottis), is a large species of herbs belonging to the Legume family, and native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It has pinnately-compound leaves with 19 to 20 leaflets and a number of closely-packed, purple, pea-shaped flowers on stalks growing out of leaf axils. Note, in Folio 20r, the flowers appear to be at the end of the compound leaf. This plant has been used for 2,000 years in China as a kidney and liver tonic.