A Poisonous Plant Poser for Mariana T. & You!

Mandrake root? Mandrake?

I think John got it.

I don't know. I keep thinking Hush something. John's answer sounds plausible.

No idea! LOL I love these though - they are so clever!

You mean that if I got it right I beat Vivian?!!

Yup, that's it!

Greetings - this is great to see something with my name - but today I'm not a witch! yayyyyy!!!! (still poisonous though) lol...thanks Curt. Congrats, John. Salud

What does a mandrake look like? Salud

I'm stumped ...

Duh!

I'm totally in the dark, but will be glad to see the answer.

Hi Curt! I guess I have to agree with John since I had no idea. Fun post!

OHHHH wow - great shots - wait I have to go look closer. Salud

wow Curt - that's an awesome medieval picture - I am not sure if I'm familiar with that...now, I have to go and study about it! Salud

yum.
.mandrake stew..
with a side order of braised foxglove ..and gastrique of nightshade..
who's hungry?
lol..

that lithograph is incredible
what is the symbolism with the greyhound drinking?
the depiction of the mandrake plant interesting..

you know,the root of the ginseng is called the man root by the old timers
what does that have to do with anything?

Mandrake is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora belonging to the nightshades family (Solanaceae). Because mandrake contains deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids such as hyoscyamine and the roots sometimes contain bifurcations causing them to resemble human figures, their roots have long been used in magic rituals, today also in neopagan religions such as Wicca and Germanic revivalism religions such as Odinism. (It is alleged[who?] that magicians would form this root into a crude resemblance to the human figure, by pinching a constriction a little below the top, so as to make a kind of head and neck, and twisting off the upper branches except two, which they leave as arms, and the lower, except two, which they leave as legs.)

The mandrake, Mandragora officinarum, is a plant called by the Arabs luffâh, or beid el-jinn ("djinn's eggs"). The parsley-shaped root is often branched. This root gives off at the surface of the ground a rosette of ovate-oblong to ovate, wrinkled, crisp, sinuate-dentate to entire leaves, 5 to 40 centimetres (2.0 to 16 in) long, somewhat resembling those of the tobacco-plant. A number of one-flowered nodding peduncles spring from the neck bearing whitish-green flowers, nearly 5 centimetres (2.0 in) broad, which produce globular, succulent, orange to red berries, resembling small tomatoes, which ripen in late spring. All parts of the mandrake plant are poisonous. The plant grows natively in southern and central Europe and in lands around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as on Corsica.

Good Grief Curt - I think you think I'm a witch - lol...thanks good information and I actually have heard of this root but it's nice to read this again!! Salud

oh curt I wish I knew

Cool. Super info in your comment.

SONG.
by John Donne


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,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.

If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.

cool quest, Curt, and a Great song up there, john

Very interesting info, as usual!

Just to confirm, the answer is the Mandrake/Mandrake Root.

Congratulations, John, for being the first to answer correctly and
thank you for the fine John Donne song!

To all who got it right, my congratulations!

Many thanks to all participants, you make this fun!

Very interesting!

One I actually had heard of.

Cool.

Very cool, had to think about the song by Deep Purple! congrats John!

I actually never heard of that.

Of course, this was one of my favorites!!!! Thank you Curt. Salud

NOOOOOOOOOO!!! I missed the only poser I knew the answer to - ever:) I even knew all the good stuff you posted about it.