PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 163 
same story as held by the Jews in his time and before his 
time. Columella even spoke of the plant as “ semi-homo ” ; and 
Pythagoras called it “ Anthropomorphus ” ; and Dr. Daubeny 
has published in his “ Roman Husbandry ” a most curious 
drawing from the Vienna MS. of Dioscorides in the fifth cent¬ 
ury, “ representing the Goddess of Discovery presenting to 
Dioscorides the root of this Mandrake ” (of thoroughly human 
shape) “ which she had just pulled up, while the unfortunate 
dog which had been employed for that purpose is depicted in 
the agonies of death.” 1 All these beliefs have long, I should 
hope, been extinct among us; yet even now artists who draw 
the plant are tempted to fancy a resemblance to the human 
figure, and in the “ Flora Grseca,” where, for the most part, the 
figures of the plants are most beautifully accurate, the figure of 
the Mandrake is painfully human. 2 
As a garden plant, the Mandrake is often grown, but more 
for its curiosity than its beauty; the leaves appear early in the 
spring, followed very soon by its dull and almost inconspicuous 
flowers, and then by its Apple-like fruit. This is the Spring 
Mandrake ( Mctndragora vemalis ), but the Autumn Mandrake 
(M. autumnalis or microcarpa) may be grown as an ornamental 
plant. The leaves appear in the autumn, and are succeeded 
by a multitude of pale-blue flowers about the size of and very 
much resembling the Anemone pulsatilla (see Sweet’s “Flower 
Garden,” vol. vii. No. 325). These remain in flower a long time. 
In my own garden they have been in flower from the beginning of 
November till May. I need only add that the Mandrake is a 
native of the South of Europe and other countries bordering 
on the Mediterranean, but it was very early introduced into 
England. It is named in Archbishop zElfric’s “ Vocabulary ” 
in the tenth century with the very expressive name of “ Earth- 
1 In the “ Bestiary of Philip de Thaun ” (12 cent.), published in Wright’s 
Popular Treatises on Science, written during the Middle Ages, the male 
and female Mandrake are actually reckoned among living beasts (p. 101). 
2 For some curious early English notices of the Mandrake, see “ Promp- 
torium Parvulorum,” p. 324, note. See also Brown’s “Vulgar Errors,” 
book ii. c. 6, and Dr. M. C. Cooke’s “ Freaks of Plant Life.” 
