Mandragora officinarum  Mandragora officinarum is the type species of the plant genus "Mandragora". It is often known as mandrake, although this name is also used for other plants. , sources differed significantly in the species they use for "Mandragora" plants native to the Mediterranean region. The main species found around the Mediterranean is called "Mandragora autumnalis", the autumn mandrake. In a broader circumscription, all the plants native to the regions 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 practices such as Wicca and Heathenry. 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. , "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.