Common Mandrake
Mandragora officinarum
Potato family (Solanaceae)
Lethal root
By February the mandrake plant will have produced its basal rosette of oval leaves on short stalks. From March to April, the green and white, bell shaped flowers appear. Late in the spring, greenish-yellow berries develop that resemble small tomatoes and remain attached to the plant long into the summer after the plant has died back.
Mandrake occurs naturally in southern and Central Europe and has been associated with magical powers. The Greek Pythagoras described the root as a miniature human being. From ancient times onwards it was believed that, because of this likeness, harvesting mandrake was lethal. According to folklaw, dogs were used to dig up the roots instead of humans because when the freshly harvested mandrake plant screamed, it would be the dog that would fall down dead.
Themes
Crown jewel in the Alkmaar Botanic Garden, the Holland Open Air Museum and Botanical Garden TU Delft.
All parts of the plant are poisonous.
The fruit is about the size of a small apple and has a strong apple-like scent. It is quite possibly poisonous.
Both fresh and dried roots contains highly poisonous alkaloids that act as a laxative, sedative and an emetic, it is also hallucinogenic. In sufficient quantities it induces a state of unconsciousness and was used as an anaesthetic for operations in early surgery.
The shape of the roots often resembles human figures; they have been associated with a variety of superstitious practices throughout history.
In Medieval Europe this plant was known as 'alraune' in the Netherlands and 'main de gloire' in France. Carved to emphasize the natural anthropomorphic characters of men and women, the root was popular as an aphrodisiac - a charm against sterility and love talisman. Joan of Arc, who was tortured and burnt at the stake in 1431 as a heretic, was also accused of the witch's crime of possessing a mandrake. It was believed that the plant grew under gallows and that the root owed its human shape to urine and sperm of unjustly hanged men. The gathering of the root was considered to be highly dangerous and dogs had to perform the supposedly lethal procedure of pulling out the plants, whereupon the roots would shriek, any living human hearing it turned mad.
Details
Description: | Herb, up to 0.1 m. |
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Distributions: | Southeastern europe |
Habitat: | Open woodland, abandoned fields and stony places. |
Year cycle: | Perennial (trees and shrubs included) |
Hardiness: | Colder than -4 f (very hardy) |
Flowering period: | Maart - april |
Flower color: | Green, white, blue, purple |
Notes on flowers: | Corolla is 12-65 mm long, greenish white to pale blue or violet. |
Fruiting period: | Juli - augustus |
Fruit color: | Yellow, orange |
Notes on fruits: | Fruit 5-40 mm in diameter, globose to ellipsoid, glossy yellow to orange when ripe. |
At its best: | Maart - april |