"Shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth."

"Go and catch a falling star
Get with child a mandrake root
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot..."


John Donne



Mandragora (that belongs to the Nightshades family- Solanaceae) has always been my favourite plant.

When i was a child i wanted to be a witch. I also had a little witchcraft handbook... There were many recipes with mandarake root and i always wished i had a mandrake in my garden.
Witches also used the root to sculpt their magistrellus, a lucky charm.

Now i'm in love with a mandrake doll.





"...Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday."

Shakespeare, Othello.