MANDRAGORA OFFICINARUM

Family and Genus:- See- SOLANACEAE

Common Names:- Mandrake, Spring mandrake.

Homotypic Synonyms:- Mandragora autumnalis

Meaning:- Mandragora (Gr) Man-dragon, derived from the Syrian, namta ira, for

mandrake.

Officinarum (L) Official medicine, of the apothacaries.

General description:- Low, stemless, hairless or slightly hairy perennial with a

thick fleshy, often branched rootstock.

Leaves:-

1) In a rosette, usually spreading and flat on the ground, 12-20 cm long, ovate-

elliptic with an indistinct petiole, entire or irregularly sinuate-lobed, bullate,

subglabrous.

Flower:-

1) 30-40 mm, borne in the centre of the leaf-rosette, violet or purple.

2) Peduncles, slender, 2-8 cm. usually shorter than the leaves, appearing directly

from leaf rosette.

3) Calyx, slightly accrescent, with long, lanceolate-acuminate lobes, with

multicellular hairs and stipitate glands.

4) Corolla, broadly campanulate, 2-3 cm. in diam, with 5 triangular lobes and a

short tube.

Fruit:-

1) Berry, 25-30 mm long. broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, yellow or orange

Key features:-

1) Corolla, not more than 2·5 cm, greenish-white, with narrowly triangular lobes.

2) Berry, globose.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Rocky flats and slopes with dry open shrubby vegetation, open grassy

habitats, fallow terraces, wasteground, archaeological sites. 0-700(-1200) m. also

on small islands.

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean region.

Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- (Nov-)Jan to early Apr.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton