Mandrake is a genus of three species belonging to the Solanaceae family. The mandrake is known for its intoxicating scent and sweet taste, often reported in folklore as an aphrodisiac, and it also has a reputation as a hallucinogenic plant. Like many other plants in the Solanaceae family, it contains various alkaloids, making it a common medicinal plant, particularly in the fields of anesthesia and analgesia.
As mentioned, there are three types of mandrake: the Mediterranean Mandragora autumnalis, which currently also includes the European mandrake, Mandragora officinarum. The Turkmen species is considered by some to be not a separate species but a “distorted” descendant of the Mediterranean species, as the differences between them are mainly morphological—leaf shape, arrangement, size, and fruit size. However, both lack a stem and spread on the ground. In terms of taste and smell, they are much more similar to each other than to the third species, the Tibetan species. The Turkmen species has different concentrations of alkaloids in various parts of the plant compared to the Mediterranean species, and in some cases, it contains a slightly wider variety of alkaloids. The Tibetan species differs from the other species in its less sweet taste, and primarily in that it includes a stem and does not spread, with a later flowering and ripening season than the others.
Our immediate conclusion, as is the case with other species, is that geographical distribution, habitat, and climate are significant factors in the plant’s characteristics, including its taste and smell. Changes occur over time, and even in the same location, there can be changes in the plant itself. Against this backdrop, perhaps we can understand the statement in the Talmud, Tractate Sotah 9:12, that the sweetness of honeycombs and the taste of fruits were lost from the moment the Temple was destroyed. We see that as distribution expands and geographical conditions vary, so does the genetic makeup of the plant.
Tomatoes and peppers are excellent examples of genetic engineering that has allowed changes in the taste and color of Solanaceae over the generations. In my opinion, the tomato is also a great example to demonstrate what the aroma of a plant is, not just its fruits. Sometimes in the supermarket, when tomatoes are picked as clusters with the stem, you can really smell the aroma. With the mandrake, it usually smells a bit unpleasant, like tobacco. I don’t know if it was always like this, although it probably was, because it was the fruits that were known for their good smell, not the plant itself.
In the ecosystem, there are various pests and pollinators that are attracted to flowers because plants produce volatile compounds. When it comes to pests, it is harmful to the plant, and it has to develop defense mechanisms, but when it comes to pollinators, it helps the plant. Since the inventory of pollinators and pests varies worldwide, evolutionarily, the plant will develop different volatile compounds to attract insects or repel parasites, all depending on whom it encounters. In the second chapter of his book “What a Plant Knows“, Daniel Chamovitz talks about how the broomrape attaches to and kills the tomato because of a volatile tropane chemical that the tomato releases, enticing it to latch onto the tomato and suck out its energy. Among other things, the tomato contains a substance called beta-myrcene that attracts the broomrape, but to defend against it, it has developed mutations of acetate that repel the broomrape. Tomatoes with less of this acetate are more vulnerable. In the book, he shows how wheat, for example, managed to avoid this pest through a mutation it developed called 3-z hexenyl acetate. This same process likely happens in every plant. Although this has not been researched in mandrakes, since it’s all a matter of chance, it is likely that the ecosystems in different regions of Asia have changed over time, and plants face different challenges. Therefore, they also change their characteristics, including taste and smell.
Genetic mapping of tomatoes has found that genetic mutations occurring in a single gene are responsible for traits like taste, smell, or pest resistance. In tomatoes, this was undoubtedly the result of deliberate intervention (what I call “engineering”). In the case of mandrakes, it is probably the invisible hand and not intentional results.
Anyway, the purple color of its flowers should be noted. Amots Dafni, who is an international authority on the folklore of the mandrake plant, showed dissatisfaction for this arguement. He said that the ancients did not think in such a way about the sanctity of the purple color and certainly not regarding the mandrake. Still the existence of the purple color in so much entheogens make the issue suspicious: Atropa Belladona, Solanum (nightshade), Salvia, Hellebore, Ergot etc.
Also it should be noted that according to Homer, there is no such a “purple” color, because purple was also the color of the bulls and sky (see Guy Deutscher, “Through the language glass“). So probably the color purple was considered to be anything that has the shade of purple including red, brown and blue. This is why scarlet, crimson etc. were considered also “purple” in ancient time.
Entheogens and sacred herbs 
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