Mandrake (Heb. dûdâ’îm). Plant of the nightshade family that produces an aromatic fruit like an apple or a tomato. The fruit produces a narcotic effect, and it is known that it was used as a medicine in ancient times. The ancients believed that the mandrake possessed qualities that stimulate sexual desire and promote fertility. The supposed aphrodisiac value is implicit in the biblical use of the term (Gen 30:14-16; Son 7:13). 745
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
see PLANTS
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Plant or grass with a very short axis, abundant in the soils of Israel. Its scientific name is †œMandragora Officinarum. It has undivided and large dark green leaves. It produces a strawberry with a very penetrating smell. Its root is deep and takes forms similar to a human body. Many legends were woven around her, attributing to her aphrodisiac powers or to make conception possible. The story of Reuben, who † found m. in the field and brought them to Lea, her mother ”seems to be related to the latter. Raquel took the m. in exchange for Jacob sleeping with † ¢ Leah, which she conceived without the use of the plant. This is interpreted as a denial of the traditional belief (Gen 30:14-17). The poetic use in Can 7:13, †œlas m. they have given odor† , it is an allusion to spring. †¢Plants of the Bible.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, MDIC FLOWER
vet, (Heb. “doubt’i”, “apple of love”). This fragrant plant was supposed to act as a filter of love, and to have fertilizing virtues (Gen. 30:14-16; cf. Song 7:14). The mandrake (“Mandragora Officinarum”) is a beautiful solanaceous plant with large leaves, with pale violet, white or dark blue flowers. Its fruit is small, golden yellow. The fork-shaped root vaguely resembles two legs. The mandrake grows in the Jordan Valley, next to the tributaries of this river, in the fields of Moab, Gilead and Galilee. The leaves are more poisonous than those of belladonna.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
(Heb. du·dha·´im, plural).
Perennial herbaceous plant that, like the potato, belongs to the Solanaceae family. Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) has long, dark green, oval leaves that seem to grow directly from the taproot and spread out in a circle close to the ground. From the center of this circle sprout peduncles, each bearing a single white, bluish, or purplish flower. The fruit, a reddish-yellow color and about the size of a plum, ripens by the time of the wheat harvest in Palestine. (Ge 30:14) Its aroma has been said to be sweet and fresh like that of an apple. (See Ca 7:13.) The thick, often forked taproot of the mandrake resembles the lower limbs of man. This characteristic has given rise to numerous superstitious beliefs and has served as the basis for magical powers to be attributed to the plant. (RECORDING, vol. 1, p. 544.)
In ancient times the fruit of the mandrake was used in medicine as a narcotic and antispasmodic. In some places in the Middle East it was also considered, and still is, an aphrodisiac fruit capable of increasing human fertility or helping conception. The Genesis record reports that Rachel agreed to exchange with her sister Leah the opportunity to receive the marital debt from her husband, Jacob, for some mandrakes. (Ge 30:14, 15) Although the Bible does not reveal the reason, Rachel may have thought that they would help her conceive, thereby ending the opprobrium of her barrenness. However, Raquel did not become pregnant until a few years after this incident. (Ge 30:22-24.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible