Women as allegory for the life force of plants - or just a plant biology lesson?

[Aurara84]

My personal suspicion is that the VM images were copied from a source that did not differentiate well between the male and female body, and there was some doubt by the copyist. Bu that's speculation. 

From an artist's perspective, I think you are right. There are elements of some of the drawings that imply the author had a good understanding of the underlying structure of both plants and bodies, but the execution is rather shoddy. It looks convincingly like a (not very accomplished) artist has copied illustrations from a much better original. I see this all the time when looking at school children's copies of famous works; they have something of the original's interesting elements, but usually look awkward and clunky - just like the VM!

(That's not to say I don't find the VM beautiful, I do! But it's undoubtedly child-like. )