Dioscorides' Plants, Then and Now
μανδραγόρας

Mandrake

Mandragora officinarum L. · Solanaceae
Identification: CertainNot endemic to GreeceLC Least Concern
Risk rank
32 of 32 (31–32)
Risk score
0.18(0.18–0.18)1 · Low

Then and now

2050 · moderate emissions. SSP2-4.5, 2041-2060, 3 climate models; ranges show the spread.

The plant
μανδραγόρας
Photograph of Mandragora officinarum
Mandragora officinarum, one of the species pooled for this plant. Photo: H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (photo of Mandrake)
2050 · moderate emissions
Natural Earth (PD) · model output · ~10 km cells
Loading map layers (0 of 1)
Layers
Range keptLost by 2050Gained by 2050Cultivation zoneNatura 2000Occurrence cellCells ≈ 10 × 10 km

Occurrences are aggregated to ~10 km cells; exact points are never published. View range data as a table

De Materia Medica · Book IV · ch. 75c. 50–70 CE
μανδραγόρας
mandragoras
μανδραγόρας· οἱ δὲ ἀντίμιμον, οἱ δὲ βομβόχυλον, οἱ δὲ Κιρκαίαν[, οἱ δὲ Διρκαίαν] καλοῦσιν, ἐπειδὴ δοκεῖ ἡ ῥίζα φίλτρων εἶναι ποιητική. …
Modern identification
Mandragora officinarumL. · SolanaceaeCertain

WCVP treats Greek mandrakes as M. autumnalis; the Greek checklist and GBIF Backbone merge it into M. officinarum. Both names are pooled. Source: Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, pp. 604-605; Fraas 1845, p. 167; Osbaldeston 2000.

Full citation and quoted evidence

Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, pp. 604-605 (Comm. IV cap. LXXVI): three kinds; the first two 'bene, ut ab αὐτόπτῃ, descripta'. Female (black, narrower leaves, sorb/pear-shaped fruit) = Mandragora autumnalis Bertol.; male (white, large beet-like leaves, larger saffron-coloured fragrant fruit) = Mandragora vernalis Bertol.; 'Utraque species et in Italia et in Graecia, speciatim circa Athenas occurrit.' Third kind (μώριον) either the same as the male or Theophrastus' plant suspected by Anguillara (with Dodonaeus) to be Belladonna. Genus certain; mapping of Bertoloni's names to M. officinarum L. s.l. is ours. Fraas 1845, p. 167: 'At[ropa] Mandragora L., Alraunwurzel' = μανδραγόρας μέλας, ἀντίμηλον, κιρκαία etc. Diosc. 3,134 [sic], who 'mentions the 2 varieties distinguished by flowering time - vernalis and autumnalis; of the third he speaks only from hearsay'; modern name μανδραγόρας. Osbaldeston 2000, ch. 4-76: SUGGESTED Mandragora mas [Fuchs], M. fructu rotundo [Bauhin], Mandragora officinarum [Linnaeus], Atropa mandragora. (https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_dioscsprengelx02/page/n606/mode/1up ; https://archive.org/details/synopsisplantaru00fraa/page/n212/mode/1up)

Opening words of the chapter (Wellmann numbering). Edition: Wellmann 1906, Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De materia medica vol. II (libri III-IV), Berlin: Weidmann; read from page scan on archive.org (BIUSante_65865x02), p. 233. See the page scan.

No European Medicines Agency herbal monograph for this species.

Projected range change by 2050

2050 · moderate (SSP2-4.5)+55% (+49 to +68%)
2050 · high (SSP5-8.5)+77% (+58 to +85%)

Median and spread across 3 climate models. Whisker axis −80% to +20%, dashed tick at 0; a chevron means the value runs beyond the axis.

Suitable cultivation area, 2050 moderate4,496 km² (3,371–5,434 km²)

Risk score breakdown

0.18 (0.18–0.18)Low risk class 1
00.51.0
  • Range loss 0.00 of max 0.40 · (0.00–0.00)
  • Endemism 0.00 of max 0.20 · not endemic
  • Conservation status 0.00 of max 0.20 · LC · Least Concern
  • Harvest pressure 0.18 of max 0.20

Stays in the top 10 in 0% of 1,000 random weightings.

How the score is built, and how sensitive it is to weights

Model quality

Low grade
AUC (spatial block CV)
0.90 ± 0.02
Distance-only baseline AUC
0.92 ours is not higher
Boyce index
0.46 ± 0.30
TSS
0.77 ± 0.05
Occurrence records
224 after cleaning (of 317)

5-fold spatial block cross-validation (~25 km blocks); ± is one standard deviation across folds. Null model AUC 0.48. The baseline scores each held-out point by its distance to the nearest training record, on the same folds. "Standard" grade means ≥ 30 records, AUC ≥ 0.75 and above the baseline; fewer than 10 records is a data gap; anything else is low grade.

Suggested action

Cultivation opportunity

Climate-resilient candidate crop; cultivation can take pressure off wild collection.

Rule: Gains or keeps habitat · has a 2050 cultivation zone.

Where it could be grown

Identification through time

Who has matched μανδραγόρας to which modern plant, from the Renaissance to today.

All names through time
Cited for the identification we modelProposed an alternativeAlternative preferred by our sourceAlternative rejected by our sourceCommonly proposed, not verified by us
Renaissance commentators
Linnaean botany & Flora Graeca
Edition
Modern
150016001700180019002000
  • μανδραγόραςDMM 4.75 · MandrakeMandragora officinarumCertain

Select a mark to read who proposed which plant, and the source we read it in.

Dates are each authority's main herbal or commentary (approximate, "c."), used to order the timeline. Claims are parsed from our curated identification table; every quote links back to a page scan or edition on the plant page.

Caveats

  • WCVP treats Greek mandrakes as M. autumnalis; the Greek checklist and GBIF Backbone merge it into M. officinarum. Both names are pooled.

Range data (map alternative)

ScenarioSuitable ~10 km cellsChangeShare in Natura 2000
Now394—22.6%
2050 moderate572 (571–611)+55% (+49 to +68%)23% (22–24%)
2050 high642 (582–655)+77% (+58 to +85%)23% (23–24%)