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Mandrake is a plant steeped in many legends. Some of these are religious in nature, and others are supernatural. It is known for having many benefits, including some folktales about helping with barren women to concieve, to an anaesthetic (which is very much true). There is a compound in mandrake that even helps combat some kinds of cancer! It is an amazing plant, and the legends about it are phenomenal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_(plant)

The mandrake, of the genus Mandragora and the Solanaceae (nightshades) family, is known by many names, some of those include Mandragora and beid el-jinn (genie's eggs). There are four species of this genus, known as Mandragora autumnalis, mandragora turcomanica, mandragora caulescens, and lastly mandragora officinarum. The last is the plant that I will be referring to.
The family Solanacaea is actually a very interesting plant family. Many occult and otherwise commonly used plants exist in this category. These include plants as poisonous as Atropa (belladonna/deadly nightshade) and Datura (Angel's Trumpet, very deadly indeed); and plants as commonly eaten as tomato, eggplant, potato, chile peppers. Tobacco (nicotiana), petunia, moonflower, tomatillo, henbane, and boxthorn also exist in this family. Most of these plants, even the ones we consider "edible", have very toxic parts to them, and in fact, most of the Solanacaea family consist of toxic plants. Mayapples exist in the same family, and the apples are used in jellies to remedy constipation. We have many of them in my area, and they grow in amazing colonies that can be up to 100 years old! And the morel mushrooms love their little umbrella shades.
In the order Solanales (same order that Solanacaea belongs to), there exists the famous morning glory plant and the sweet potato.

There is an old legend about how to properly cultivate mandrake because of the supposed "terrible, fatal shriek" it gives when pulled out of the earth. The primary method of cultivation is to dig carefully around the root (which is the most valuable part, and oddly shaped like a human being if you bend it right) to loosen the dirt around it. Tie a rope to the plant, and the other end to the tail of a black dog without a single white hair on its body. Place beeswax in your ears and call the dog to you, and the dog will die instead of you and you have your mandrake root. Very interesting, no?


Some literature that includes mandrakes are:
Mandragola -Machiavelli
Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, and King Henry VI -Shakespeare
The Dutchess of Malfi -John Webster
Edit: Harry Potter Series-J.K. Rowling

Noted. I actually don't know harry potter books. I vowed to myself not to read books that inspired a big "craze" from people who won't read any other kind of literature.
I'm a big bookworm. The only real extracurricular activity in HS that I was involved in was Literary Guild, and I basically ran it for 2 years.
I finished re-reading The Hobbit today. Read it once in 8th grade and decided to give it another go. I think I fell in love again.
Anyway, that was way off topic. Glad you liked the article and learned something new.
J.K. Rowling did her research, I can tell you that much.

They are. Almost everytrhing in the books are from actual myths.

Actually, there is such a thing as a mandrake...I forgot where I heard that though.

It ties in with the shape of the root. Some Mandrake root grows naturally in the shape of a human body, or thereabouts. I believe it was thought, at one time, that these roots actually were people who managed to earn a transformation somehow.

Many cerimonial magicians would go through a painstaking process of cultivating 'human mandrake' by regularly unearthing the root, carving and twisting it slightly, and then burying it for a month or so so it could heal, before new carvings were made. Basically, they'd intentionally mold the roots to look like people so they could sell them for rediculous prices.

Well, the carving process was only so they could sell the root for high prices. by the time they got done with it, it actually had a face and everything...they told everyone it was natural and made a killing selling them.

It may have something to do with the fact that it is called the Genie's Eggs by the Arabs, or the superstition that it grows where a hanged man ..uh... dripped? (read up on this and you'll understand).

Dx poor doggy, killing it to use some darn plant! Psh.
I've always found mandrakes to be funny little things, although a bit creepy.
I touched one before. It felt like human skin before I realized I was accidentally rubbing the hand of the guy who was holding it.
Sigh.


(and by the way, Harry Potter is a great series despite all its hype)