38 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
closes a few prostrate branches will be found with mature fruit. 
That plants., like most people, will not hurry except from neces- 
sit}% was abundantly in evidence during the held work of the past 
season. The identical species (various Eriogonums, Senecios, 
Solidagos and many others), that were in full bloom on the 
higher plains of more northern ^^'yoming in late July or August, 
had reached only the same stage of development by the first of 
September, in middle Colorado and southward. The contrast 
was all the more striking, since the Colorado season opens two or 
three weeks earlier as well as closes as much later. 
THE MYSTERIOUS ^lAXDRAKE. 
The name Mandrake in America is usually applied to the May- 
apple {Podophyllum peltatum), but the ^Mandrake of history is a 
Mandragora and is a native of the Mediterranean region. It be- 
longs to the order Solanaceae and is, therefore, allied to the to- 
mato and nightshade. The mandrake has long been the subject 
of much superstition. 
The root is forked and fleshy, presenting a rude but startling 
likeness to the human figure. From it the leaves spring with no 
apparent stem and among them the stalked whitish flower appears. 
The fruit is a one-celled berr}- about the size of a sparrow's egg. 
The whole plant has an unpleasant and narcotic smell, although 
the fresh berries, when bruised exhale a pleasant odor like wine 
and apples. 
All parts of the plant have poisonous properties like the bella- 
donna, only more narcotic in their nature and for this region the 
root was often administered before a surgical operation. Plato 
speaks of it as a soporific, and the people of the east, to this day 
refer to an indolent person as '*'One who has eaten mandrake.'' 
Shakespeare alludes to this when Cleopatra says ''Give me to 
drink Mandragora, that I may sleep out this great gap of time. 
!My Anthony is away." 
A superstition connected with the use of the mandrake as a 
medicine, is that a small dose makes a person vain of his beauty 
and conceited but that a large dose makes him an idiot. This 
