Edit Plant: Mandrake

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'''Mandrake''' is the common name for members of the [[plant]] genus '''''Mandragora''''' belonging to the [[nightshade]]s family (Solanaceae). Because mandrake contains [[deliriant]] [[hallucinogen]]ic tropane alkaloids and the roots sometimes contain bifurcations causing them to resemble human figures, their roots have long been used in magic rituals. The mandrake, ''[[Mandragora officinarum]]'', is a plant called by the Arabs ''luffâh'', or ''beid el-jinn'' ("[[djinn]]'s eggs"). The parsley-shaped root is often branched. This root gives off at the surface of the ground a rosette of ovate-oblong to ovate, wrinkled, crisp, sinuate-dentate to entire leaves, {{convert|5|to|40|cm|in}} long, somewhat resembling those of the tobacco-plant. A number of one-flowered nodding [[Peduncle (botany)|peduncles]] spring from the neck bearing whitish-green flowers, nearly {{convert|5|cm|in}} broad, which produce globular, succulent, orange to red berries, resembling small tomatoes, which ripen in late spring. All parts of the mandrake plant are [[poison]]ous. The plant grows natively in southern and central [[Europe]] and in lands around the [[Mediterranean Sea]], as well as on [[Corsica]]. {{Inc| Mandragora (name used by Hippocrates, said to signify that the plant is hurtful to cattle). Solanaceae. Mandrake. Old medicinal herbs. A genus of three or four species, one of which is supposed to be the dudaim mentioned in Genesis, chapter 30. In America the name mandrake is applied to the mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, but the mandrake of history is a plant with a large spindle-shaped root which was supposed sometimes to become forked and resemble the I human form. In this condition it was used as an aphrodisiac. The plant was also called love-apple, and many superstitions about it still survive. The old herbals abound in fanciful pictures of the mandrake, one of which is reproduced in Fig. 2317. M. officinarum may be cultivated in the hardy border for its folk-lore interest. M. autumnalis is supposed by some to be the true mandrake. Both are natives of the Mediterranean region. M. caulescens is found in the Himalayas. The mandrakes are allied to belladonna (Atropa) and have poisonous qualities. Mandragoras are mostly stemless perennial herbs with thick roots and large, stalked, wavy-margined lvs., the later ones being usually narrower and entire, and rather large fls. varying from whitish through bluish violet and purplish shades: fls. purple, bell-shaped, about 5-cut, netted-veined and borne in clusters among the tufted lvs.; calyx deeply 5-cut; sinus of the corolla induplicate between the lobes; stamens 5:fr. a globose or oblong juicy berry. }} ==Cultivation== ===Propagation=== ===Pests and diseases=== ==Species== ''[[Mandragora autumnalis]]''<br/> ''[[Mandragora officinarum]]''<br/> ''[[Mandragora turcomanica]]''<br/> ''[[Mandragora caulescens]]'' ==Gallery== <gallery perrow=5> Image:Mandrake-roots.jpg|Mandrake twin roots Image:Upload.png| photo 1 Image:Upload.png| photo 2 Image:Upload.png| photo 3 </gallery> ==References== <references/> *[[Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture]], by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963 <!--- xxxxx *Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881925381 --> <!--- xxxxx *American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432 --> <!--- xxxxx *Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608 --> ==External links== *{{wplink}} {{stub}} __NOTOC__

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