The BRITISH HERBAL. 
GENUS III. 
MANDRAKE. 
MANDRjiGORA 
THE flower is formed of a fingle petal ; which is hollow, and divided deeply into five fcgments. 
The cup is large, formed of a fingle leaf, of a hollow fhape, marked with five ridges, and di- 
vided alio into five fcgments at the edge. The fruit is a berry, but a very large one, of a round or 
longilli form ; and the feeds are numerous, and kidney-fliaped. 
Linna;us places this among the penlandria mmogynia ; the threads being five, and the ftyle from the 
rudiment of the fruit fingle. There is but one known fpecies of this Angular genus. 
The Mandrake. 
Mandragara. 
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, fmall 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 fiave a very unpleafant Imell. 
The fl:alks which lupport 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 
whitifli colour, with a blufli of purple. 
The fruit is of the bignefs of a fmall apple, 
and is of a fpungy fubllance. Its colour is a 
greenifli yellow when unripe ; but as it ripens all 
the green goes ofi^, and it becomes perfeftly 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 Mimdragora fruBu rotundo. 
Others, Maniragoras mas. 
No plant has been a Iburce of more error or 
impofition than this. 
The fruit is fometimes of an oblong fliape, 
infl:ead of round ; and in that condition the plant 
is called the female mandrake ; but it is only an 
accidental variety. 
It is pretended that the root perfeftly rcprefents 
the human body ; and cheats have carved a head 
and arms to it. Good fculpture has in fome au- 
thors alfo greatly helped this reiemblance ; 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 folanuins ; but it is unplea- 
fant. 
The leaves arc 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 character' of a 
narcotick j but it has no very powerful cfi^eds. 
Thofe people who fhew the root of 7nandrake 
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 olten 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 fubjed. BTit there feems no 
reafon for farther conjei^lure than the plain fenfe 
of the words ; nor any error in the Septuagint, 
though the miilakes of commentators have fan- 
cied fo. They have been led to guefs other fruits 
mufl: have been meant, becaufe they thought that 
of the mandrake poifonous. But that is a palpable 
error: many have eaten the fruits, and anv one 
may without hurt. This plant therefore is inno- 
cent : it grows abundantly in that part of the 
world where the fcene of the fcripture-flory lies ; 
and its virtue was fuppofcd to be that of clean- 
fing the uterus, and aflifting conception. This 
might naturally lead the female ifraelite to eat it ; 
and the whole account is plain, familiar, and 
evidently a literal truth. 
G E N U S IV, 
MAY-APPLE. 
PODOPHTLLUM. 
THE flower is compofed of nine petals-, which are of a roundllh form, hollow, and folded at 
the ed<^e. The cup is a kind of leafy fcabbard, falling with the flower : it is compofed of three 
latere 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 roundifli. 
Linnteus places this among the polyandria monogynia \ 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 ana- 
pdofhyllmn. 
Common 
