Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MAN'DRAKE, n. [L. mandragoras; It. mandragola; Fr. mandragore. Said to be compounded of μανδρα, relating to cattle, and αγαυρος, hurtful.]

A plant. The popular name of the several species of the genus Mandragora, one of which grows in Switzerland, one in the south of Europe, and one in the Levant. In medicine they are narcotics. The mandrake of Scripture (Dudaim) was quite a different article; but what it was is uncertain.