The Voynich Botanical Plants

Folio 50r, Masterwort (Astrantia major), is a native of the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia. The shiny, dark-green, palmately-lobed, and coarsely-toothed leaves are arranged in a rosette at the base of the plant. The flowers are white, pinkish, or greenish and clustered in simple umbels, which are surrounded by a conspicuous white or reddish whorl of petal-like bracts. The root is a black, woody rhizome. (Probert Encyclopedia) According to the 17th century English physician and herbalist, Culpepper, the root is hotter than pepper, and useful for treating colds and diseases of the stomach and body.