A Structural and Pre-Linnaean Botanical Classification Framework in the Voynich Manuscript

This work proposes a new interpretative framework for the Voynich Manuscript, arguing that it constitutes a fifteenth-century botanical treatise based on an internal, non-nominal system of plant classification. Rather than relying on names, medicinal uses, or astrological correspondences, the manuscript organizes plants according to the structural and numerical properties of their flowers, particularly the number of floral divisions (hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal) and the presence or absence of a central nucleus. Within this system, certain floral forms are treated as derivative structures, emerging from more fundamental configurations, indicating a dynamic and relational mode of classification. Leaves, stems, and roots are not presented as independent taxonomic criteria, but as structural projections consistent with the underlying floral type. Recurrent visual patterns, color alternations, and morphological variations across the manuscript are shown to correspond to this internal botanical logic rather than to decorative, symbolic, or cryptographic intentions. The study therefore challenges dominant interpretations of the Voynich Manuscript as a medical, astrological, or esoteric document, and instead situates it as evidence of a coherent and internally rigorous botanical classification system predating Linnaean taxonomy. This contribution establishes the conceptual foundations of the proposed framework and secures authorship and priority over the methodological approach, pending further detailed analytical publications.