The mandragora is a wild plant, the like of which does not exist. Many
kinds of medicine can be made of its root; this root, if you look at it
closely, will be seen to have the form of a man. The bark is very
useful; when well boiled in water it helps many diseases. The skillful
physicians gather this plant when it is old, and they say that when it
is plucked it weeps and cries, and if any one hears the cry he will
die[14]. But those who gather it do this so carefully that they receive
no evil from it. If a man has a pain in his head or in his body, or in
his hand or foot, it can be cured by this herb. If you take this plant
and beat it and let the man drink of it, he will fall asleep very
softly, and no more will he feel pain[15]. There are two kinds of this
plant,--male and female. The leaves of both are beautiful. The leaf of
the female is thick like that of the wild lettuce.
[Footnote 14: "Would curses kill as doth the mandrake's groan."--'2
Henry VI.,' iii. 2. ]
[Footnote 15:
"Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world."--'Othello,' iii. 3.]