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Mandragora officinarum L.

Mandrake (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Solanales > Solanaceae > Mandragora

Characteristics

A perennial herb. It grows 12-15 cm high and spreads 20-25 cm wide. The taproot is long and sometimes forked. The leaves are in a ring and are dark green and corrugated. They can be 30 cm long. The flowers are on a single stalk which grows from the centre of this ring. The fruit are round and yellow.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 0.2 - 0.5
Mature height (meter) 0.1 - 0.15
Root system tap-root
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Taproots establish best in deep, moist well-drained soil. It does best in a sunny location and should be protected from cold winds. It can stand frost to-5°C. It suits hardiness zones 5-10.
More
Open woodland, deserted fields and stony places. Open woodland, olive groves, fallow land, waysides, railway embankments, ruins, crevices; at elevations up to 1,200 metres.
Light 6-9
Soil humidity 1-6
Soil texture 3-6
Soil acidity 2-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 7-9

Usage

The fruit are sweet and edible. CAUTION: The fruit are reported as poisonous.
Uses environmental use medicinal poison
Edible fruits roots
Therapeutic use Anesthesia (bark), Inflammation (bark), Anesthesia (flower), Inflammation (flower), Anesthesia (root), Inflammation (root), Anesthetic (unspecified), Asthma (unspecified), Cough (unspecified), Hypnotic (unspecified), Mydriatic (unspecified), Narcotic (unspecified), Poison (unspecified), Sedative (unspecified), Tumor (unspecified), Hayfever (unspecified), Cholagogue (unspecified), Refrigerant (unspecified), Stimulant (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Liver (unspecified), Analgesics (unspecified), Aphrodisiacs (unspecified), Hypnotics and sedatives (unspecified), Narcotics (unspecified), Spasm (unspecified), Anesthesia (unspecified), Mydriatics (unspecified), Anti-poisoning (unspecified)
Human toxicity strong toxic (whole)
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

It can be grown from seed. It does not transplant easily.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) 50 - 60
Germination temperacture (C°) 9 - 10
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Mandragora officinarum leaf picture by maria patrizia maria patrizia (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Mandragora officinarum world distribution map, present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Algeria, Spain, Gibraltar, Greece, Croatia, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Portugal, Turkmenistan, and Tunisia

Conservation status

Mandragora officinarum threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:816733-1
WFO ID wfo-0001023507
COL ID 3XTL3
BDTFX ID 79459
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Mandragora acaulis Mandragora foemina Mandragora haussknechtii Mandragora hispanica Mandragora hybrida Mandragora neglecta Mandragora officinalis Mandragora officinarum Mandragora praecox Mandragora mas Mandragora microcarpa Mandragora turcomanica Mandragora vernalis Mandragora autumnalis
WorldFloraDB 2024