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''Mandragora officinarum'' or mandrake is the type species of the plant genus ''Mandragora''. , sources differ significantly in the species they use for ''Mandragora'' plants native to the Mediterranean region. In the narrowest circumscription, ''M. officinarum'' is limited to small areas of northern Italy and the coast of former Yugoslavia, and the main species found around the Mediterranean is called ''Mandragora autumnalis'', the autumn mandrake. In a broader circumscription, all the plants native to the countries around the Mediterranean Sea are placed in ''M. officinarum'', which thus includes ''M. autumnalis''. The names autumn mandrake and Mediterranean mandrake are then used.〔 Whatever the circumscription, ''Mandragora officinarum'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with ovate leaves arranged in a rosette, a thick upright root, often branched, and bell-shaped flowers followed by yellow or orange berries. Because mandrakes contain deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids and the shape of their roots often resembles human figures, they have been associated with a variety of superstitious practices throughout history. They have long been used in magic rituals, today also in contemporary pagan traditions such as Wicca and Odinism. However, the so-called "mandrakes" used in this way are not always species of ''Mandragora'' let alone ''Mandragora officinarum''; for example, ''Bryonia alba'', the English mandrake, is explicitly mentioned in some sources. ==Description== , ''Mandragora officinarum'' has three or four different circumscriptions (see Taxonomy below). The description below applies to a broad circumscription, used in a 1998 revision of the genus, in which the name is used for all the plants native to Mediterranean region.〔 Thus defined, ''Mandragora officinarum'' is a very variable perennial herbaceous plant with a long thick root, often branched. It has almost no stem, the leaves being borne in a basal rosette. The leaves are very variable in size and shape, with a maximum length of . They are usually either elliptical in shape or wider towards the end (obovate), with varying degrees of hairiness.〔 The flowers appear from autumn to spring (September to April). They are borne in the axils of the leaves. The flower stalks (pedicels) are also very variable in length, up to long. The five sepals are long, fused together at the base and then forming free lobes to about a half to two-thirds of their total length. The five petals are greenish white to pale blue or violet in colour, long, and, like the sepals, joined together at the base with free lobes at the end. The lobes are between half as long as the petals to almost as long. The five stamens are joined to the bases of the petals and vary in length from . The anthers of the stamens are usually yellow or brown, but are sometimes pale blue.〔 The fruit which forms in late autumn to early summer (November to June) is a berry, shaped like a globe or an ellipsoid (i.e. longer than wide), with a very variable diameter of . When ripe, the fruit is glossy, and yellow to orange – somewhat resembling a small tomato. It contains yellow to light brown seeds, long.〔 Earlier, a different circumscription was used, in which ''Mandragora officinarum'' referred only to plants found in northern Italy and part of the coast of former Yugoslavia, most Mediterranean mandrakes being placed in ''Mandragora autumnalis''.〔〔 The description above would then apply to both species combined, with ''M. officinarum'' having greenish-white rather than violet petals, up to long rather than usually or longer, and a berry that is globose rather than ellipsoid.〔 More recently, plants native to the Levant have been separated out as ''Mandragora autumnalis'', leaving those found in the rest of the Mediterranean area as ''M. officinarum''. One difference then is that the size of the seeds of ''M. officinarum'' is less than half the size of those of ''M. autumnalis''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mandragora officinarum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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