The reference to this medicinal root as “the Satan’s apple” is because the plant’s root does resemble a human being and that overall is quite freaky. This stems from the belief that demons hate the smell of this herb, and neither can bear to see it. In ancient times, it was believed that Mandrake root had the ability to protect against demonic possession. Ingested boiled in milk, it is believed it can cure ulcers. Moderated correctly it is an excellent analgesic, sedative, and anesthetic. Mandrake, if taken in larger doses can cause delirium and madness. It is also known to be effective in treating depression, convulsion, and melancholic moods. As a medicinal plant, it was used to treat fertility, scrofulous tumor, rheumatic pain, convulsion, and melancholy. It is well recognized for its analgesic, anesthetic, soporific, emetic, purgative, and anodyne properties. It was used in the ancient world mostly for its soporific and anodyne properties. Economic Botany 19: 99-112.Mandrake or Cretan Wild root or Satan’s apple - as it is popularly known - is a native of Southern Europe, but cultivated around the world. Mind-altering and poisonous plants of the world. Another factor of course was that other anaesthetics were found.įleisher A and Fleisher Z 1994. It has been suggested that such folk tales were directly responsible for the disappearance of mandrake as a medicine, as physicians and apothecaries tried to gain respectability during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The perceived difficulties and dangers of the mandrake harvest did not prevent them being adornments to British gardens as early as the tenth century. However, mandrake roots with a strong human form were considered so powerful that judicial whittling could increase even a fake root's market value dramatically. Rarity and the associated stories made mandrakes desirable objects how many of the tales were concerned with safeguarding supplies for the favoured few is unknown. Incantations with swords and magic circles could protect the collector but the most common means of harvesting was to use a dog mandrake illustrations often show the harvested root with a dog attached. Classically, mandrake was reputed to shriek when torn from the ground and kill whoever uprooted it. The source of much mandrake folklore was the apparent anthropoid root, and its strong associations with the Doctorine of Signatures. Tropane alkaloids are fat-soluble, hence ointments and lotions applied to the skin or mucous membranes could be used to realise the full hallucinogenic effects of tropanes. People soon discovered mandrake's toxicity could be reduced by careful preparation using fats and oils. The trick for the mandrake user is to know enough chemistry and biology to be able to judge an appropriate dose. Low doses of mandrake produce drowniness and anaesthesia, moderate doses hallucinations, whilst high doses kill.Īs with all medicinal plants, judging mandrake dose is tricky because alkaloid concentrations vary with plant part, stage of development and the environment in which the plant grows. Mandrake is considered extremely hazardous because of tropane alkaloids (scopolamine and hyoscyamine) which block acetylcholine receptors in the synapses of nerves. Purplish, bell-shaped flowers arise from the centre of the rosette in spring and ripen to ping-pong ball-sized, enigmatically-scented, yellow berries in autumn. Above ground, the distinctive dark green leaves form a flattened rosette. The mandrake, which is commonly found in dry areas of the Mediterranean and the Levant, is a perennial with a long, parsnip-shaped taproot. Mandragora officinarum has been the most (in)famous European drug plant for at least four millennia, and among its numerous common names it rejoices in being called fool's apple, Satan's testicles and dragon doll. Plant 141 Mandragora species (Solanaceae).
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