Mandrake

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Mandragora >

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Read about Mandrake in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

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. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Mandrake. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Mandrake QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)