Carrots as illustrated in Ancient Manuscripts

A manuscript is hand written information that has been manually created by one or more people, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way. The term may also be used for information that is hand-recorded in other ways than writing, for example inscriptions that are chiselled upon a hard material or scratched (the original meaning of graffiti) as with a knife point in plaster or with a stylus on a waxed tablet (the way Romans made notes), or are in cuneiform writing, impressed with a pointed stylus in a flat tablet of unbaked clay.

Colours in illustrations obviously degrade over time depending on such factors as type and availability of materials used and storage methods. If then you also factor in personal artistic interpretation, the colours we currently see in manuscripts and hand coloured books may well have changed over time and cannot be regarded a definitive. Another point to bear in mind is that many manuscripts are copies, or interpretations of earlier manuscripts.

The above-ground parts of plants tend to be showy, but often the roots are hidden from view. Though roots are endowed with the beauty of nature, they are enmeshed with the mystery of the unknown. Roots have been both a boon and hazard to humans. They have been used as drugs and poisons and as food. They have been the sources of comfort in myths of fairies and forest nymphs, as well as a source of fear in popular legends of devils and curses. A rich association has existed between people and roots throughout and before the development of "civilized" societies. This relationship was most often one of dependence on roots as a source of food, then medicine. But sometimes because of their appearance, colour, odour or actual chemical properties roots were given a special importance by ancient peoples.

Herbals are a particularly interesting group in the history of written communication in that they have always been in circulation since the antiquities and were not 'rediscovered' during the Renaissance.

Despite the faithful transcription of the manuscript text by monastic scribes, distortions inevitably crept in as the work passed from one hand to the next. Greater variation exists among the illustrations which were often painted without reference to the living world. Regional variation in both plant types and knowledge as well as differences in editorial control also contributed over a thousand years of copying to a body of herbal manuscripts deriving from a few ancient sources.

This all makes for a complex history but there are two lines or branches generally identified in classifying the lineage of a herbal. Perhaps the most important is the five volume pharmacopoeia/herbal, 'De Materia Medica' by Dioscorides from the first century AD, which represents the Greek/Arabic tradition. This work also supplies much of the textual origin for the other branch, the latin tradition, referred to as Pseudo-Apuleius (sometimes called Apuleius Platonic, to distinguish him or them from a number of other authors from the middle ages called Apuleius). The original Pseudo-Apuleius Herbal was produced in about the 5th century AD.

Early handwritten herbals were often illustrated with paintings and drawings. Like other manuscript books, herbals were "published" through repeated copying by hand, either by professional scribes or by the readers themselves. In the process of making a copy, the copyist would often translate, expand, adapt, or reorder the content. Most of the original herbals have been lost; many have survived only as later copies (of copies of copies!), and many others are known only through references from other texts. They tend to follow the same pattern - the plant's physical appearance, smell, taste and natural habitat, followed by a discussion on any known medicinal qualities, culinary virtues, and then any useful products obtained from the plants roots, leaves, seeds or flowers. Sadly colour variations (of carrot) were rarely described until much later.

European herbal medicine is rooted in the works of classical writers such as Pliny the Elder who wrote Historia Naturalis (here); and Dioscorides (here), a Greek physician and author of the first known illustrated guide to medicinal plants whose De Materia Medica (78 C. E.) formed the basis of herbals in Europe for 1,500 years and the most influential herbal of all time.

For most of human history, people have relied on herbalism for at least some of their medicinal needs, and this remains true for more than half of the world's population in the twenty-first century. Much of our modern pharmacopoeia also has its roots in the historical knowledge of medicinal plants.

AD 512 The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides: Illustrated by a Byzantine A.D. 512. - First reference to Orange Carrot - Dioskorides Codex Vindobonensis Medicus Greacus. (Austrian facsimiles from 1965, together with commentary - studied at the Royal Botanical Gardens Library, Kew Gardens, England).

Three "orange carrots" are depicted:

Cultivated and wild carrots from the Juliana Anicia Codex of 512

Staphylinos Keras The cultivated carrot	Staphylinos Agrios The wild carrot, but appears to be a primitive type of cultivated carrot	Gingidion The wild carrot (Daucus gingidium). (also referred to as Cretan carrot)
Above Left - The oldest known manuscript of Dioscorides work is the Juliana Anicia Codex (ca. 512 A.D.), housed in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Listed as Codex Vindobonensis Medicus Graecus 1., it is better known as “Vienna Dioscorides,” the oldest and most valuable work in the history of botany and pharmacology.

There are many surviving manuscripts of De Materia Medica after Codex Vindobonensis, an important example being the seventh-century Greek alphabetic Codex Neapolitanus, in the possession of a Neapolitan monastery for many years, and then presented to Emperor Charles VI in 1717. It was taken to Vienna and subsequently to the Bibliotheca Nazionale in Naples. Some of the drawings in Codex Neapolitanus are thought to be from the same source as Codex Vindobonensis, but are smaller and grouped together on fewer pages.

Codex Neapolitanus (7thC)
CL1 - Left Kypeos (cultivated carrot) - right Agrios (wild carrot)
consulted at Kew Gardens Library September 2011

The Old English Herbarium (late10th C) takes its material from Pliny and other Latin compilations and cites uses for carrot:

"The pastinaca silvatica plant which is wild carrot or parsnip - For difficult childbirth and For womens cleansing -

82. Wild Carrot of Parsnip (Daucus cartoa L, or Pastinaca sativa L, pastinaca sivatica, Feldmoru.

This plant which is called pastinace silvatice or wild carrots, grows in sandy soils and hills.

1. If a woman has difficulty in giving birth, thae the plant we call pasticanna sivatica (willd carrot or parsnip), simmer it in water, and give it so that she can bathe herself with it. She will be healed.

2. For a woman's cleansing, take the same plant, pastinaca, simmer it in water, and when it is soft, mix it well and give it to drink. She will be cleansed." read more here.

Morgan Manuscript MS652, - written in Greek miniscule and illuminated in Constantinople during the mid-10th century, contains an alphabetical five-book version of Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, including 769 illustrations, Constantinople around ad 960. (Images courtesy of Morgan Pierpoint Library, New York)


MS M.652 fol. 32v - Gingidium (Mallabaila sekakul), inscribed gingidion.	MS M.652 fol. 35v - Daucus - Daucos (Athamanta cretensis), inscribed daukos.	MS M.0652, fol. 064v - Deadly Carrot (Thapsia garganica), inscribed thapsia.(not strictly carrot but a nice image!)

Bodleian Scripts - 11th Century

The late 11th century witnessed an intriguing script from Bury St Edmonds in England - MS Bodley 130 - a handwritten manuscript containing a copy of a much earlier Latin text; its illustrations are similarly inherited. The original illustrated text had been compiled in the late Roman period (4th or 5th century) relying on Greek sources.

Known as "Pseudo.-Apuleius, Dioscorides, Herbals (extracts); De virtutibus bestiarum in arte medicinae, in Latin and English", St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury; c. 1070-1100. This apparently shows a diagram of an orange carrot, which, according to most other historical records did not appear until the 15th century. So another mystery in the origins of modern carrot.

"The script indicated that It grows in stony places and mounds." and "For women who suffer at childbirth and are not purged. - With 'Herba pastinaca', cooked, together with the same water in which it was cooked, you take 30 peppercorns; mix together and give to drink; she will be purged.

The same recipe as written above also works against toothache."
Further evidence of the use by the ancients of Pastinaca for both carrot and parsnip.

Much more background information, including a full translation of the script together with a larger photo are included on a separate page here.

Important Copyright Notice:

The image (left) appears with the kind permission of the Bodleian Library and is copyright and any use is restricted by law. Any unauthorised copying or reproduction will constitute an infringement of copyright.

The script is held by the Bodleian Library of Oxford University as part of its collection of illuminated mediaeval manuscripts.

Similar scripts - MS. Ashmole 1462 and MS Ashmole 1431 contain the same Pseudo-Apuleian text as MS. Bodl. 130, though with some slight variations in wording.

You will notice a typo! "Pasnatica" instead of "Pastinaca" - a typical transcription error in such scripts. This again gives a remedy for toothache. Otherwise the same recipes and place names as in the MS Bodley script referred to above.

The carrot leaves and flower do look quite accurate and no doubt orange is the root colour! Click on photos for full picture - note this a large file and will take a while to download.

MS Ashmole 1431 - Pastinaca (Carrot) left	MS. Ashmole 1462 - Pastinaca Silvatica
Important Copyright Notice: The images (above) appear with the kind permission of the Bodleian Library and are copyright and any use is restricted by law. Any unauthorised copying or reproduction will constitute an infringement of copyright. The script is held by the Bodleian Library of Oxford University as part of its collection of illuminated mediaeval manuscripts.

10th century image of carrot - pastinaca silvatica pseudo apulieus

This 10th century image shows Pastinaca Silvatica, which herbalists also knew as wild carrot or parsnip. (900-1000 a.d.)

It taken from a version of the Pseudo-Apuleius the author of a Herbarium or De herbarum virtutibus, also referred as Herbarium Apuleii Platonici; which is a medical herbal of the 5th century, A.D. (see above)

A 10th century manuscript of the work is in the Musee Meermanno Westreenianum, Holland.

Den Haag, MMW, 10 D 7 (left) is an image from the 10th century version of the Pseudo Apulieus.

(source)

Tractatus de herbis (Herbal) - De Simplici Medicina Egerton MS 747

This is held by the British Library was produced between 1280 and 1310 and is probably an original manuscript of Tractus de Herbis a type of medicinal herbal which was to become one of the most influential texts on medicinal plants between the 14th and 16th centuries.

Written by Bartholomaei Mini de Senis; Platearius; Nicolaus of Salerno, it contains miniature illustrations of plants in colours, usually several on a page, together with their medicinal uses inherited from Greek, Roman and Arabic sources. It also covered instructions on how to prepare each fruit or vegetable.

In some cases it gives suggestions on the aphrodisiac, cosmetic and magical properties of herbs.

The illustrations are drawn from life wherever possible to produce identifiable likenesses but over the centuries these herbals were copied repeatedly by scribes and artists who were anxious to reproduce the books in front of them. Haste, lack of skill and misunderstandings frequently resulted in plant images that were simplified, distorted and often unrecognisable!

It contains numerous miniatures of plants in colours, usually several on a page. Initials in red or blue, some with penwork decoration in the other colour.

This is the record for Daucus (picture right)

In 1400 another orange rooted illustration of Pastinaca appeared, this time in an Italian herbal, Herbarium Apuleii, Lombardy.(right)
Description: One plant, bottom, "pastinaca silvatice" probably (family Umbelliferae) Pastinaca sp. (often Parsnip, sometimes carrot) has three major stems bearing odd-pinnate compound leaves with triangular dentate leaflets and terminating in umbels of flowers or seeds. At the top of each stem are small round objects. (Cf. Corpus medicorum Latinorum, v. 4, p. 147-148.) Adjacent text: Herbarium Apuleii.

(Source :Yale Medical Library. Manuscript. 18 [Herbarium Apuleii and other works]. [ca. 1400] MS 18 fol. [33v] ) (source)


Image scanned from the Grete Herball 1526	Image shows an early German drawing taken from “Herbarum Imagines Vivae” printed from a copy of the original 1535 Frankfurt Edition belonging to the Leopold Sophien Bibliothek Uberlingen.

Walther Hermann Ryff - Lustgarten der Gesundtheit. (Garden of Health) - Frankfurt, 1546 (Note that the woodcut image is exactly the same as the 1535 manuscript above)

Gelb means yellow" and "Rublinl" tranlates as "carrot"

This document has a notation that acreage is grown of the 'gelb' carrot near Cologne, but a 'roter' (red) is grown near Strassburg. Since the descriptions both use the word robe, which can be translated as beet, I don't know if the discussion about the two types means a yellow and a more reddish carrot or a yellow carrot and a red beet or not.

It does seem that the illustration and attribution as daucia signifies a carrot, and there is the notation that the gelb (yellow) one is found in the wild.

Wellcome Collection - Herbarium MS XV - Erbario medicinale manuscrotto del sec XV MS336 - 15th century

Folio 34r - Dauco pastinacha salvatucha

MS 336 Erbarioo Medicinale Dauco pastinacha

Wellcome Collection MS335 - c 1490 (Parsnip left - pastinaca silvaticae and Carrot right named as Pastinaca domestica). (the leaves appear to be parsnip but the author tries to distinguish the root color and the carrot flowers are correct).

MS335 words, pastinaca domestica

Wellcome Collection MS 342 - German drawings with names, anonymous - Moren (current German = "mohren") 16th century

Tacuinum Sanitatis Lavishly illustrated manuscripts known as the Tacuinum Sanitatis were first commissioned by northern Italian nobility during the last decades of the 14th century.

These manuscripts were based on an 11th century Arabic manuscript known as the Taqwim al-Sihha bi al-Ashab al- Sitta (Rectifying Health by Six Causes), which was a guide for healthy living written by the Christian physician and philosopher Abu al- Hasan al-Mukhtar ibn al-Hasan ibn ‘Abdun ibn Sa’dun Ibn Butlan (d. 1063), who was born and educated in Baghdad and whose travels took him to localities that are today in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Israel, and Turkey. The Taqwim was a guide for healthy living, based on ancient philosophical concepts of Greek sciences. It summarized in tabular form information on some 280 health-related items, in particular food and especially vegetables and fruits.

1400 - Another orange rooted illustration of Pastinaca appeared, this time in an Italian herbal, Herbarium Apuleii, Lombardy. (picture right - (E) parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) from Vienna 2644 folio 28r; (F) carrot (Daucus carota) from Roma 4182 folio 49r.) (Source :Yale Medical Library. Manuscript. 18 [Herbarium Apuleii and other works]. [ca. 1400] MS 18 fol. [33v] )

tacuinum sanitatis carrots 15th century carrots

Vienna 2644 folio 28r

Carrot (possibly parsnip, based on leaf form) labelled pastinace, a gardener harvests very long and narrow, pale yellow roots of a species, which some authorities have identified as parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, on the basis of the colour of the roots and the shape of the leaves

Ms.3054 fol.9

Harvesting Parsnips and Carrots, from 'Tacuinum Sanitatis' (vellum), Italian School, (15th century) / Bibliotheque Municipale, Rouen, France

Roma 4182 folio 49r. In a similar scene to the above and also labelled pastinace a gardener is busy harvesting a root crop, the foliage of which is comprised of many small, slightly dentate leaflets. The long, thin roots, either purple or light yellow, intermingled in the foreground row and in the harvested pile clearly represent carrot, The Latin text reports that pastinace stimulates sexual intercourse but slows down digestion, and that the purple type, ripe in winter, is the best.

Codex Bruxellensis iv MS 1024 15th century, and became the basis of all English herbals of the 16th century. Daucus Cretensis (wild carrot) is depicted in a drawing in the original manuscript. (right - image from Wellcome Library collection, (Image right and continuance below)

Translation - It is a fairly common plant which has a flower as wide as flowers of the elder tree, and in the middle it has a little red spot. It grows best in dry places. There are two kinds: one is called daucus creticus because it grows in Crete, the other is called daucus asinus because donkeys eat it. Daucus creticus is the better kind. Its greatest virtue is in the flower and the root, for the plant has hardly any virtue. It should be picked when it flowers, the root removed and put to dry in the shade. It keeps its qualities for a year.

It lightens and disperses the humors, and it is diuretic because of the fine quality of its substance. For asthma provoked by a cold humor and for a cold moist cough, give the decoction of this plant with dried figs and wine. For cold catarrh, fill a sachet with powdered carrot and place it hot on the head. To ease stomach pain caused by flatulence and cold humors, stranguary, dysury and impossibility of urinating, pain in the lower belly, colic and gripes, give wine in which this plant has cooked and at the same time cook large quantities of the plant with wine and oil and apply this to the painful places. To treat stone and impossibility of urinating, give the wine in which carrot and saxifrage seed have been cooked.

For obstruction of the liver and spleen caused by cold, and for dropsy, make a syrup of fennel juice with the decoction of this plant. To relieve hardness of the liver and spleen, put to soak in wine and oil for ten days a large amount of this plant, boil until the oil has disappeared, then strain. Put some wax into this filtrate and make an ointment. This is very effective in reducing hardness of apostumes.

This illustration from an Italian Herbal in 1500 shows one plant, top, "Pastinacha," probably (family Umbelliferae) (usually but not always! Parsnip) but perhaps Athamanta cretensis three compound branchings from a vertical stem, green with white roots and white berries. Figures associated with plant, "Pastinacha," apparently in reference to its use to promote lactation, evidenced by a nude woman holding a baby (also nude), which presses its face against her breast and touches it with its hand. .

Source : University of Vermont. Library. MS 2. [Italian herbal]. [ca. 1500] MS 2 fol. 24 (source)

Adam Lonitzer - Frankfurt 1582 - A further very early manuscript clearly shows an orange root, from Germany. Adam Lonitzer a German botanist, noted for his 1577 revised version of Eucharius Rösslin's herbal, wrote Kreuterbuch including - "Pastenachen Mören Pastinaca sativa, & sylvestris".

(Photo, compliments of the Smithsonian Digital Collection of Early manuscripts.)

Images from 1485 - Herbarius. Patauie impressus : Johann Petri. Entitled "Of the Virtues of Herbs". Original in Harvard University Library.

Pastinaca Wildmoren - Wild Carrot	Pastinaca Domesticus Moren - Domestic Carrot	Daucus Creticus fogelnest - Cretan Carrot Bird's Nest

Leonhart Fuchs 1542 - The author of the Historia Stirpium, (On the History of Plants) Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566), is known as the third of the German fathers of Botany, after Otto Brunfels and Jerome Bock. In fact, Fuchs work was greatly inspired by the Herbarum vivae icones(1530-6) of Brunfels; based upon personal observation, Brunfels work was pioneering in dramatically changing the quality of botanical illustration. Fuchs' great herbal, however, was conceived on a much larger scale than the herb books of his immediate predecessors.

Like most botanical books of its time, “Fuchs’ Herbal” (as it is commonly known) consists largely of “commentaries” on Dioscorides. His aim was to reproduce each plant from life, and he stated in his dedicatory epistle that this was done for no other reason than that 'a picture expresses things more surely and fixes them more deeply in the mind than the bare words of the text'. Each illustration was therefore based upon the appearance of the living plant; furthermore, 'we have not allowed the craftsmen so to indulge their whims as to cause the drawing not to correspond accurately to the truth'.

Fuchs in 1542 described, in Latin, red and yellow garden carrots and wild carrots, but names them all Pastinaca. Fuchs illustrates red and yellow carrots, although the red is definitely shaded towards purple.

Rembert Dodoens (1517-1585)

The famous Flemish physician and botanist Rembertus Dodonaeus is best known for his herbal Cruydeboeck (more precisely: Cruijdeboeck, as the title is printed on the title page), written in old Flemish and published in 1554. The scans shown below were made from a coloured copy, which is in the library of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Holland. All wood cuts, initials of the chapters and title pages are hand coloured, by the Dutch artist Hans Liefrinck (1520-1573). (click on image for full page version)


Yellow Carrot and Red Carrot	Wild Carrot

It was illustrated by 715 woodcuts of plants, including many copies from those in the Fuch's herbal. Dodoens' used Fuchs as his model for the description of each plant. The method of arrangement is his own. He indicates the localities and times of flowering in the Low Countries, information that could not have been derived from an earlier writer.

It is written in Latin and later translated and enhanced by Henry Lyte (below). Also much of Dodoens work is repeated by Gerard's translation (also below).

Pastinaca Sativus Rubens

Rembert Dodoens

Pastinaca Silvetris tenuifolia

Henry Lyte (1529 - 1607) was an English botanist and antiquary who published "A niewe Herball" (1578), which was a translation of the Cruydeboeck of Rembert Dodoens (Antwerp, 1564). This herbal, or historie of plants was subtitled "Wherein is contained the whole discourse and perfect description of all sorts of herbs and plants." Written in old English, it is a fascinating summary of the carrot at the time in England. Basically an English copy of Dodoens earlier work.

He did not perhaps add very greatly to the knowledge of English botany, but he did a valuable service in introducing Dodoens' herbal into England. He said the root of the garden carrots (compared to wild) is more convenient and better to be eaten.

The title of Lyte's book is as follows: 'A Niewe Herball or Historie of Plantes : wherin is contayned the whole discourse and perfect description of all sortes of Herbes and Plantes : their divers and sundry kindes : their straunge Figures, Fashions, and Shapes : their Names, Natures, Operations, and Vertues : and that not onely of those which are here growyng in this our Countrie of Englande, but of all others also of forrayne Realmes, commonly used in Physicke. First set foorth in the Doutche or Almaigne tongue, by that learned D. Rembert Dodoens, Physition to the Emperour : And nowe first translated out of French into English, by Henry Lyte Esquyer.'

Of Carrots (Chap xxxviii) (note this has been edited by the Curator for ease of reading)

The Kinds - There be three sortes of Carrots, yealow and red whereof two be tame of the garden, the third is wild growing of it selfe.

The Description -

1.The yealow Carrot hath dark greene leaves, all cut and hackt almost like the leaves of Chervil, but a great deal browner, larger, stronger, and smaller cut. The root is thicke and long, yealow both without and within and is used to be eaten in meates.

2. The red Carrot is like to the aforesaid in the cuts of his leaves, and in stalks, flowers and seed. The root is likewise long and thicke, but of a purple red colour both within and without.

3. The wilde is not much unlike garden Carrot, in leaves stalks and flowers, saving the leaves be a little rougher, and not so much cut or jagged. In the middle of the flowry tufts amongst the white flowers groweth one or two little purple marks or specks. The seede is rougher and the root smaller and harder than the other Carrots.

The Place - 1 & 2 the manured or tamed Carrot is sowne in gardens; 3 the wild groweth in the borders of fields, by high waies & paths, and in rough untoiled places.

The Time -Carrots do flower in June and July, and their seed is ripe in August.

He went on to describe its vertues which included, "cleaning evil blood"; "seeds to provoketh urine"; "this root hath the power to increase love".

The roots made into powder helped the "liver, spleen, kidnies and guarded against gravel".

Wild Carrot provoketh womens flowers, and drunk with wine helped in childbirth. It also good against venom and the bitings & stings of venomous beasts.

The greene leaves of Carrots "boiled with honey and laid to, do cleanse and mundifie (purify) uncleane and fretting sores" (- a type of poultice)

John Gerard's Herball - The Historie of Plants 1597 - this is largely a straight translation of Dodoen's work.

The original Generall Historie of Plantes of 1597 containing the description, times, places, nature and vertues of all sorts of Herbs for meate, medicine, or sweet smelling use.

John Gerard’s “Herbal or General History of Plants” has long been considered one of the most famous of English herbals. First published in 1597, it was republished in 1633 revised and enlarged by Thomas Johnson in an edition that retained much of the original Elizabethan text. The 1633 edition contains some 2850 descriptions of plants and about 2700 illustrations.

Stinking and Deadly Carrots - both the plant Thapsia, a relative of carrots
It relies heavily on previously published texts, most notably plagiarising a translation Dodoens' Latin Herbal of 1583 (see above). Gerard added 182 new plants and appended some of his own observations. The work is a valuable source fro the culinary historian, not only to prove certain plants were known at this time, but also to see how they were used.

German Herbal Carrot No date. Ca. 1600.

Single woodcut (approximately 5 x 3 inches), hand coloured, on single sheet 8 1/2 x 14 inches, two woodcuts and text on verso.

Beautifully designed and executed wood cut of carrot plant, showing flowers, fruit, roots.

Colouring appears to be early hand colour, simple and carefully done.

Page 131 from an unidentified old German language (fraktur) herbal, possibly Mattioli?s "Kreuterbuch ...."

(Jacob Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1611) a German version of his "Pedacii Dioscoridis de materia medica libri sex" first published in Venice 1558.

(Click Image for larger version)

Germal Herbal Showing Orange Rooted Carrot 1600

A curious herbal, containing five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick : engraved on folio copper plates, after drawings taken from the life / by Elizabeth Blackwell. To which is added a short description of ye plants and their common uses in physick.

The Herbal was issued in weekly parts between 1737 and 1739, each part containing four illustrated plates and a page of text. It was highly praised by leading physicians and apothecaries (makers and sellers of medicines), and made enough money to secure her husband's freedom.

And finally ... The bizarre Voynich Manuscript - described as an elegant enigma and the most mysterious book in the world, and "A Textbook of Medieval Plant Physiology" - has long been noted that some of the Voynich botanical illustrations suggest carrots.

The Voynich manuscript, written in a mysterious cipher and illustrated in a herbal-like form with stylized paintings of bizarre, unidentifiable plants, remains to this day one of the most enduring enigmas of the medieval period (Kennedy and Churchill, 2004). Discovered in 1912 by the antiquarian book dealer Wilfred M. Voynich, the vellum codex has since attracted legions of cryptoanalysts and history sleuths (but unfortunately few professional botanists) dedicated to unlocking its secrets.

Note the Carrot Museum does not endorse or agree with the assumptions and assignment of carrot to any of the images or text, but provides the information given below as a matter of interest only. Neither the leaf nor root depictions show little or no similarity with Daucus Carota. In fact it appears that the manuscript has not been properly examined by an academic botanist! The script contains many somewhat carrot shaped, orange/brown colored roots that one could forward a tenuous argument for several images being carrot. Until someone in authority can come forward with a reliable decoding and translation of the mystery script it is remains difficult to treat it seriously.

The Voynich manuscript is a handwritten book thought to have been written in the early 15th century and comprising about 240 vellum pages, most with illustrations. Although many possible authors have been proposed, the author, script, and language remain unknown. It has been described as "the world's most mysterious manuscript". Read more here.(Wikipedia) and here (University of Southern Califonia, pdf). Neither the author nor the place of origin of the MS has been be established so the mystery remains. It has, however, been confirmed that this is a real mystery, not a modern forgery.

Generally presumed to be some kind of ciphertext, the Voynich manuscript has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers, including American and British codebreakers . Yet it has defied all decipherment attempts, becoming a historical cryptology cause célèbre. The mystery surrounding it has excited the popular imagination, making the manuscript a subject of both fanciful theories and novels.

In 2009, University of Arizona researchers performed Carbon14 dating on the manuscript's vellum, which they assert (with 95% confidence) was made between 1404 and 1438. In addition, the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago found that much of the ink was added not long afterwards, confirming that the manuscript is an authentic medieval document. voynich manuscript - carrot

The item shown right, from folio 102v is often quoted as carrot. Please make up your own mind!

The bizarre features of the Voynich manuscript text (such as the doubled and tripled words), the suspicious contents of its illustrations (such as the chimeric plants) and its lack of historical reference support the idea that the manuscript is a hoax. In other words, if no one is able to extract meaning from the book, perhaps this is because the document contains no meaningful content in the first place.

One website gives a set of plausible coincidences, or strong evidence (depending on how gullible you are) that Voynich MS words beginning “ok-” are enciphered from Latin words beginning “ca-”. Note that it is VERY likely that in the 15thC the term for carrot would probably have been Daucus!.

The three plants labelled “okae89″, show similarities. The one on f101v2 is said to look very much like a carrot, and the other two could also be carrots:

There are several more images in the script which could be interpreted to look more like carrots than the ones shown here!

Reference material is here.