Re: V. major/minor

VCJill@aol.com wrote:

I have read the various discussions, information, and debates your Q raised, Pam, and have found the responses fascinating. BUT: My real thought was the possibility that no answer will be found in early printed sources, ie pre-Linneaus [What pictorial resources exist?] . Earlier classification systems existed, to be sure, but they would have been made upon different criteria, eg poisonous/nonpoisonous; medicinal benefits or lack thereof; utility value, and the like.
Jill [Van Cleve]
San Diego, CA
Thanks for your kind message Jill, I thought you and others might find
that  "Medieval Herbals, the Illustrative Traditions" By Minta Collins,
British Library and University of Toronto Press 2000, ISBN 07123 4641
4,  will answer the above question. I have no idea how the author
completed the amount of research involved, the results are staggeringly
impressive.

Anthony
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I'm not sure I should even horn in here (being a chemist!), but....
Sgt. Schulz used to say "I know no--thing!". And that pretty well describes me on this subject.
It would seem to me that the only hope we have for 2 thousand year old information is for "experts" to study the ancient art, paintings and sculpture, with a critical botanical eye. But one must remember that these people were not themselves botanists so I don't think they were really trying to preserve botanical information. I'm sure they would have no problem changing many things to please their artist's eye. But they might very well have preserved information that they did not think was important. I suspect their mosaics would be too pixelated to be of great help. If I were inclined toward historical botany, I would start collecting ancient botanical art with an idea that they might show the botany of the time. ---Chas---
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