334_ The 
BRET. San ER: BAS. 
G: EON 
U.S III. 
MANDRAKE. v 
MAND RUA -G O%R A, 
HE flower is formed of a fingle petal; which is hollow, and divided deeply into five fegments. 
The cup is large, formed of a fingle leaf, of a hollow fhape, marked with five ridges, _and di- 
vided alfo into five fegments at the edge. ‘Lhe fruit is a berry, but a very large one, of a round or 
longifh form ; and the feeds are numerous, and kidney-thaped. ; 
Linnzus places this among the pentandria monogynia ; the threads being five, and the ftyle from the 
rudiment of the fruit fingle. There is but one known fpecies of this fingular genus. 
The Mandrake. 
Mandragora, 
The root is large, long, and thick ; and ufually 
from about the middle downwards is divided into 
two parts. This however is not its conftant or 
certain form: fometimes it is divided into three 
or four parts, and fometimes it is abfolutely 
fingle. 
The leaves are numerous, and very large: 
they are long, and confiderably broad, {mall at 
the bafe, wideft toward the middle, and thence 
gradually narrower to an obtufe point: they are 
often waved, and fometimes indented at the 
edges. . Their colour is a dark, dufky green ; and 
they have a very unpleafant fmell. 
The ftalks which fupport the flowers rife among 
* thefe leaves ; and they are very flender, about four 
inches high, and of a pale green: each fupports 
a fingle flower, This is large, hollow, and of a 
whitifh colour, with a bluth of purple. 
The fruit is of the bignefs of a {mall apple, 
and is of a fpungy fubftance. Its colour is a 
greenifh yellow when unripe; but as it ripens all 
the green goes off, and it becomes perfedtly yel- 
low. : 
It is a native of Spain and Italy, and of the 
other warmer parts of the world, growing in 
damp woods. It flowers in June. 
C, Bauhine:calls it Mandragora fruétu rotundo. 
Others, Mandragoras mas. 
No plant has been a fource of more error or 
impofition than this. 
The fruit is fometimes of an oblong fhape, 
inftead of round; and in that condition the plant 
is called the female mandrake ; but it is only an 
accidental variety. 
and arms to it. Good fculpture has in fome au- 
thors alfo greatly helped this refemblance; but 
in nature it is really nothing. 
The fruit of the mandrake has been accounted 
poifonous ; but without any juft reafon. It may 
be eaten with fafety in the manner of the large 
fruits of fome of the Jolanums ; but it is unplea- 
fant. : 
The leaves are cooling, and are ufed in oint- 
ments for that purpofe. The outer bark of the 
root is dried for the fervice of medicine, but is at 
prefent little regarded : it has the chara&ter of a 
harcotick ; but it has no very powerful effects, 
Thofe people who fhew the root of mandrake 
feldom get that of the right plant. Their cuftom ¢ 
is, to cut a piece of white ‘bryony into the in- 
tended fhape, and put it into the ground again for 
fome time, where it will often get a kind of coat. 
The interpreters of the Bible have been cen- 
fured for rendering the Hebrew dudaim, mandrake; 
and much learned ignorance has been fent into 
the world upon the fubje&. But there feems no 
reafon for farther conjecture than the plain fenfe 
of the words; nor any error in the Septuagint, 
though the miftakes of commentators have fan- 
cied fo. They have been led to guefs other fruits 
mutt have been meant, becaufe they thought that 
of the mandrake poifonous. But that is a palpable 
error: many have eaten the fruits, and any one 
may without hurt. This plant therefore is inno- 
cent: it grows abundantly in that part of the 
world where the fcene of the {cripture-ftory lies ; 
and its virtue was fuppofed to be that of clean- 
fing the uterus, and affifting conception. This 
might naturally lead the female Ifraeclite to eat it; 
and the whole account is plain, familiar, and 
Ic is pretended that the root perfeétly reprefents evidently a literal truth. = 
the human body; and cheats have carved a head 
Gee! Nee CU. Ss IV. 
MAY-APPLE, 
PODOPHYLLU™ 
HE flower is compofed of nine petals; which are of a roundifh form, hollow, and folded at 
I the edge. The cup is a kind of leafy {cabbard, falling with the fower : it is compofed of three 
large, hollow leaves, of an oval form. The fruit is a berry, of an oval fhape, with a crown at its 
top. The feeds are numerous and roundith. 
Linneus places this among the polyandria monog ynia y the threads being numerous, and fixed to the 
receptacle, and the ftyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. The name is by moft written aza- 
podophyllum. 
Common 
