Mandragora officinarum

Mandragora officinarum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Solanales
Family:	Solanaceae
Genus:	Mandragora
Species:	M. officinarum
Binomial name
Mandragora officinarum L.
Synonyms
M. autumnalis Bertol. M. vernalis Bertol.

Mandragora officinarum is a species of the plant genus mandrake. Historically, it has been associated with a variety of superstitious practices.

Physical characteristics

It is a perennial plant growing to 0.1 metres (0.33 ft) by 0.3 metres (0.98 ft). It is in leaf from late winter to mid summer, in flower from late winter through early spring, and the seeds ripen in late summer. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by insects. The plant is self-fertile.

The roots are somewhat carrot-shaped and can be up to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) long; they often divide into two and are vaguely suggestive of the human body.

The leaves grow in a rosette, and are ovate-oblong to ovate, wrinkled, crisp, sinuate-dentate to entire leaves, 5 to 40 centimetres (2.0 to 16 in) long, somewhat resembling those of the tobacco-plant. A number of one-flowered nodding peduncles spring from the neck bearing whitish-green or purple flowers, nearly 5 centimetres (2.0 in) broad, which produce globular, orange to red berries, resembling small tomatoes. All parts of the plant are poisonous. The plant grows natively in southern and central Europe and in lands around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as on Corsica.

The plant requires well-drained soils that are acidic or neutral; it prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) ones. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.

Habitat

Mandragora officinarum grows in woodlands, cultivated beds, sunny edges and dappled shade in locations where temperature never drops under about -15 °C.

Folklore

Mandrake has a long history of medicinal use, although superstition has played a large part in the uses it has been applied to. It is rarely prescribed in modern herbalism, though it contains hyoscine.^{[citation needed]}

The fresh or dried root contains highly poisonous alkaloids including atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine, scopine, and cuscohygrine. The root is hallucinogenic and narcotic. In sufficient quantities, it induces a state of oblivion and was used as an anaesthetic for surgery in ancient times. In the past, juice from the finely grated root was applied externally to relieve rheumatic pains. It was also used internally to treat melancholy, convulsions and mania. When taken internally in large doses, however, it is said to excite delirium and madness.

In the past mandrake was often made into amulets which were believed to bring good fortune, cure sterility etc. There is a superstition that if a person pulls up this root, they will be condemned to hell, and that the mandrake root would scream as it was pulled from the ground. Therefore in the past, people have tied the roots to the bodies of animals and then used these animals in order to pull the roots out of the soil.

External links

• Mandragora in Wildflowers of Israel