The succulents in the mysterious Voynich manuscript

Abstract

The Voynich Codex is one of the greatest bibliographic mysteries of our time. Its origin and interpretations have puzzled academics for decades. The botanical illustrations are equally enigmatic and have defied accurate identification Recently, Tucker & Janick (2019) have produced a plausible list of identified plants, some of which are succulent. This paper discusses the succulent species identified by Tucker & Janick in the context of identifications by others and concludes that, although these authors have contributed to the debate, their conclusions still lack certainty.