Excellent, well mine was a very nice dark green leaf, with very slightly
crinkled edges, but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as "The
Official Mandrake", and if so are the EU going to be clamping down on the
Mandragora Conterfeitus ?), Mind you it did come from a herb farm and I have
seen other plants mislabelled there before so wouldn't be that surprised if
it wasn't exactly the right species.
Duncan

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:15:15 +0100, Druss wrote:

Interesting note about the ortting off and forming a callus. I assume
it's
the european mandrka eyou are growing and not the strange American
Mandrake
plant which appears to be somewhat different ?

Yep, genu-wine Mandragora officinalis -- though one is different,
has leaves of a grayish-metallic cast. I wish I had a handy
reference to sort out the various names under Mandragora. I think
the single odd plant I have may be the veritable M. officinalis
and the rest (with rumpled green leaves) may be M. vernalis. They
all flower at about the same time.

I don't remember what genus the "American mandrake" is, but it
isn't Mandragora.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The way I understand what I was reading on the web, the Mayapple is the
American form of Mandrake and not the Mandragora plant as such, this may be
a relative but isn't quite the same plant and has different requirements
etc.

The dog would also usually be starved a bit, and then it would be tied to
the plant, and food left some small distance away, that way as the dog
struggles to get to the food, it pulls the mandrake root out of the ground,
and I've always heard that far from being a fatal shriek, it would drive
whoever pulled it out of the ground mad instead. In this way you'd end up
with lots of mad dogs running around, and when you did you knew that someone
had been playing with Mandrake. This was probably a really convienant excuse
for hunting down witches when rabies came to town.

Duncan

"Peggy" wrote in message
t...
Satan's apple , or mandrake, is a relative of the nightshade plant. It's
root grows with 2 finger like appendages that mimic the form of a man's
legs, with the foliage then appearing to be his beard. Attributed with
magical powers, it was said to have grown under gallows, where the blood
of
the condemned had dripped. If one was to dig up a mandrake, he would bring
a
dog along. The root is said to let out "groans and shrieks" when dug, and
if
the digger heard them, he was as good as dead. So, he would bring a dog
who
would suffer the wrath of the terrible mandrake in his place. The plant
bears a yellow fruit that both looks and smells like a small apple
("mayapple"), but is highly poisonous. As one site put it "Toxic.
Consumption will cause insanity." Another touts "once known as the most
evil
plant in the world"

PS Here in Illinois it's called a "MayApple"
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/n...df/maqbool.pdf

Peg
A Macabre Garden
http://www.dreamwater.com/sancho/macabregarden.html
"Beware when you pull the May Apple out of the ground. An old mountain
superstition once said if a girl pulled the roots of the May Apple out of
the ground, she would become pregnant."

"Druss" wrote in message
...
Howdy all,

I've had a good trawl through dejanews and found only one or two
references
to Mandrake, mostly from me strangely enough !

However I do have one question for anyone who may have successfully
germinated Mandragora seeds;

Were there any special conditions, any special routines, or any special
soils helpful in getting the seeds to germinate.

I have acquired 10 seeds in total from the one fruit my mandrake
produced
and I'd like to make the most of them. I believe it grows mainly in the
South Eastern corner of Europe but am even unsure what weather
conditions
they have, will it need chilling, will it need soaking ??? etc

Any help very gratefully appreciated.

Cheers
Duncan

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Druss" writes:
|
| Strangely enough when searching on the web, most of the hits were
initially
| about how to prepare the plant as a drug for halucinagenic! tripping,
scary
| scary thought what some people will try and do.

I was thinking that breeding a variety could be amusing. Mandragora
officinalis "Cotton Mather" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Okay, I think it's must be the wrong time of the day, my brain cannot
extract the humour from this, please elucidate !, cor big words too. My
brain aches now !
Duncan

Excellent, well mine was a very nice dark green leaf, with very slightly
crinkled edges, but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as "The
Official Mandrake", and if so are the EU going to be clamping down on the
Mandragora Conterfeitus ?), Mind you it did come from a herb farm and I have
seen other plants mislabelled there before so wouldn't be that surprised if
it wasn't exactly the right species.
Duncan

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:15:15 +0100, Druss wrote:

Interesting note about the ortting off and forming a callus. I assume
it's
the european mandrka eyou are growing and not the strange American
Mandrake
plant which appears to be somewhat different ?

Yep, genu-wine Mandragora officinalis -- though one is different,
has leaves of a grayish-metallic cast. I wish I had a handy
reference to sort out the various names under Mandragora. I think
the single odd plant I have may be the veritable M. officinalis
and the rest (with rumpled green leaves) may be M. vernalis. They
all flower at about the same time.

I don't remember what genus the "American mandrake" is, but it
isn't Mandragora.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

In article , Druss wrote:
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Druss" writes:
|
| Strangely enough when searching on the web, most of the hits were
initially
| about how to prepare the plant as a drug for halucinagenic! tripping,
scary
| scary thought what some people will try and do.

I was thinking that breeding a variety could be amusing. Mandragora
officinalis "Cotton Mather" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Okay, I think it's must be the wrong time of the day, my brain cannot
extract the humour from this, please elucidate !, cor big words too. My
brain aches now !

Mandragora is a "witch plant". Cotton Mather was the most notorious
of the witch hunters in New England, and his name is a byword for
the evils of extremist dogmatism.

All right, it's probably amusing only to a few people ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Druss
writes
Excellent, well mine was a very nice dark green leaf, with very slightly
crinkled edges, but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as "The
Official Mandrake", and if so are the EU going to be clamping down on the
Mandragora Conterfeitus ?),

No - 'officianalis' means used in medicine.

WT Stearn says the derivation is officina, originally a shop, later a
monastic herb room and later still a pharmacy.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 08:48:13 +0100, Druss wrote:

Excellent, well mine was a very nice dark green leaf, with very slightly
crinkled edges, but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as "The
Official Mandrake", and if so are the EU going to be clamping down on the
Mandragora Conterfeitus ?)

"Officinal" means "medicinal". This-or-that officinalis is or was
a drug plant.



--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 08:48:13 +0100, Druss wrote:

Excellent, well mine was a very nice dark green leaf, with very slightly
crinkled edges, but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as "The
Official Mandrake", and if so are the EU going to be clamping down on the
Mandragora Conterfeitus ?)

"Officinal" means "medicinal". This-or-that officinalis is or was
a drug plant.



--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

In article , Druss
writes
.... but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as
"The
Official Mandrake", ...

officinal (Lat., of the shops), used of medicinal or other plants
procurable at shops. [A Glossary of Botanical Terms.]

I would loosely translate it as "apothecary's mandrake" or "herbalist's
mandrake".
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Hmm apologies to anyone who thought I might have been serious to suggest
Officionalis as being an EU designation. ;-)
Duncan

"Druss" wrote in message
...
Excellent, well mine was a very nice dark green leaf, with very slightly
crinkled edges, but it was also labelled up as the Officionalis, (that's
really quite a silly name tho isn't it. Does it really translate as "The
Official Mandrake", and if so are the EU going to be clamping down on the
Mandragora Conterfeitus ?), Mind you it did come from a herb farm and I
have
seen other plants mislabelled there before so wouldn't be that surprised
if
it wasn't exactly the right species.
Duncan

"Rodger Whitlock" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 08:15:15 +0100, Druss wrote:

Interesting note about the ortting off and forming a callus. I assume
it's
the european mandrka eyou are growing and not the strange American
Mandrake
plant which appears to be somewhat different ?

Yep, genu-wine Mandragora officinalis -- though one is different,
has leaves of a grayish-metallic cast. I wish I had a handy
reference to sort out the various names under Mandragora. I think
the single odd plant I have may be the veritable M. officinalis
and the rest (with rumpled green leaves) may be M. vernalis. They
all flower at about the same time.

I don't remember what genus the "American mandrake" is, but it
isn't Mandragora.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada