Mystique of the Mandrake

Even a plant known could develop a reputation for supernatural, if your habits are strange enough. One example involves elaborate embroidery as mandrake, or mandragora, a small perennial herb common throughout the Mediterranean region.


Like the other nightshades, Mandrake, not the fame magical power in a part of its toxicity. This powerful herb can kill the unwary, but has also served as an important source of therapeutic drugs. The addition of Mandrake, mysticism is the appearance of the root. Thick and tubers, it is possible to imagine the appearance of a small man, a coincidence that deeply impressed by some of his contemporaries in ancient greek botanist Theophrastus. Were rhizoto-moi, or "cuners root." Herbalists of their time, they just cutters supplied herbs for physicians. It was even more magical Mandrake recall. It 'a plant that phosphorescence. Sometimes at night, the chemical part of his berry-tions to respond to the baptism to give a pale light. The phenomenon is explained by the science of today, our ancestors and the spirits of anributed has magical powers.


Josephus, a Jewish General, statesman and historian of the first century AD, describes the dangers of harvesting Mandrake. While its luster, it was easy to find, grass fell when she approached, and simply touch could be fatal. One way to collect the grass was to dig gently around until a small part of the root remained covered. The collector would then lash a dog in a root and walk away. The dog would take the roots apart in a suicide attempt to rejoin his master. But in exchange for the dog's death, according to Josephus, the teacher gets an infallible charm against demons. Others said Mandrake protected from impact injuries, cure all diseases, has the chance of love, fertility promoted, guaranteed perfect shot, and revealing previously hidden treasures.


Important thing is the magic plant, how to run numerous courses in human experience. As long as ignorance keep people enslaved to superstition, the idea of ​​magical plants remained strong. Infiltrating the activity of herbal magic, romance, agriculture has recognized the essential health, happiness and success. While nations underestimate the gullibility of their neighbors, and the new generation mocked the ignorance and credulity of the old, each in turn, wove their own fabric for a fantastic new herbal taboos, legends and traditions. The tradition of the mandrake root, for example, had a firm grip on the imagination of the people, if you do not believe, for many centuries. "Go and catch a falling star, pregnant Mandrake Root" has had a long list of impossible tasks mentioned by the 17 th century poet John Donne.

Goose Barnacles Tree And Other Tales

The tall tales spun by returning travelers and explorers also gave rise to many a factory of imagination with magical powers. Because of the risk and expense of travel, premodern men rarely ventured far from home, and the few brave souls who see the world could inflate their experiences with little fear of being discovered. To impress the stay at home, inhabited by these travelers the world of monsters and marvels, including exotic plants that have amazing properties. One of the most durable of these trees was that barnacle geese. This bit rich imagination of the flora was a tree beach wearing shells and barnacles, which contains the geese live like its fruit. It might have grown out of "totally factual descriptions of long-necked barnacles found attached to shells of marine vessels. Anyway, got the celebrity goose goose trees range from the land. Enthusiastic writers has placed in remote locations such as the coast of Ireland or the Scottish Hebrides, and stated that the trees were the source of a goose bog, a renowned writer Barnacle Goose. Accepted as fact for centuries, the goose barnacle trees caused a theological debate. Technical his geese were fruit, not chicken. Therefore, some Christians have decided that the goose eaten quickly when meat was forbidden. Other institutions have real accounts of the wonders of plants that had come to tell, and revisiting distorted. An example is a plant bulb tree Scythia (an area that stretched from southern Europe, the Crimea), also known as lamb tartare and wood so Borametz. The legend seems to have a simple description of the cotton plant, Gossypium herbaceum, that Herodotus, the historian greek. 5. century BC, wrote his account of the struggle between the greek and Asian people in the east. From your account, simply titled "Stories," begins the Trojan War. The book contains a very broad description of the territory beyond the borders of the civilized world the Greeks, Egyptians and Persians. Herodutus said that "some of the trees bear their fruit .......... fleeces of sheep exceeded the beauty and excellence, and the people are dressed in clothes made from them." Retold ad embellished over the centuries, Herodotus GRE story even more amazing. Finally, its "wool covering" the tree became a "vegetable lamb plant", a bit of flesh and blood to obtain. The tree grew from AA as melon seeds. Anchored to the ground with a rod from his navel, the cannibal flower feeding voraciously on the surrounding green areas. Since he had swallowed all within reach, he lost. A 14 century travelers whose pen name was Sit John Mandeville, said he tasted the flesh of the animal. Despite the protests of generations of scientists, this fable is not buried until the 1887th