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==Description and traits==
  
==Description and traits==
 
[[File:Sprout.JPG|220px|thumb|left|[[Pomona Sprout|Professor Sprout]] teaches her [[Second year]] [[Herbology]] students how to pot young Mandrakes]]
  
[[File:Sprout.JPG|220px|thumb|left|[[Pomona Sprout|Professor Sprout]] teaches her [[Second year]] [[Herbology]] students how to pot young Mandrakes]]
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[[File:Harry and Ron re-potting Mandrakes GIF.gif|245x245px|left|frame|[[Harry Potter|Harry]] and [[Ronald Weasley|Ron]] replanting Mandrakes]]
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[[File:Harry and Ron re-potting Mandrakes GIF.gif|245x245px|right|frame|[[Harry Potter|Harry]] and [[Ronald Weasley|Ron]] replanting Mandrakes]]
 
[[File:CS C6.jpg|thumb|left|A Mandrake being pulled from its roots]]
  
[[File:CS C6.jpg|thumb|left|A Mandrake being pulled from its roots]]
 
Whenever unearthed, the root screams. The scream of a mature Mandrake when it is unearthed will kill any person who hears it, but a young Mandrake's screams will usually only knock a person out for several hours. When [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]] students study Mandrakes in [[Herbology]] class, [[Pomona Sprout]] had the students wear [[earmuffs]] to protect their ears from the Mandrake's cries.<ref name="CS6">{{COS|B|6}}</ref>
  
Whenever unearthed, the root screams. The scream of a mature Mandrake when it is unearthed will kill any person who hears it, but a young Mandrake's screams will usually only knock a person out for several hours. When [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]] students study Mandrakes in [[Herbology]] class, [[Pomona Sprout]] had the students wear [[earmuffs]] to protect their ears from the Mandrake's cries.<ref name="CS6">{{COS|B|6}}</ref>

Revision as of 12:00, 11 November 2020

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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in: Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells & Harry Potter: Wizards Unite & Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

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The topic of this article is of a real-life subject that has been mentioned "in-universe" in a canon source. The Harry Potter Wiki is written from the perspective that all information presented in canon is true (e.g., Hogwarts really existed), and, as such, details contained in this article may differ from real world facts.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative. It is used to turn people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state. The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it."
— Hermione Granger on the properties and abilities of the plant[src]

A Mandrake, also known as Mandragora, is a magical and sentient plant which has a root that looks like a human (like a baby when the plant is young, but maturing as the plant grows). When matured, its cry can be fatal to any person who hears it.[1]

History

Minister for Magic Venusia Crickerly died in 1912, following a freak Mandrake-related gardening accident.[4]

Mandrakes are part of the second-year Herbology curriculum at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[1] In the 1992-1993 school year, the school's growth of Mandrakes served the additional purpose of making a Restorative Draught to revive all those who had been Petrified during the Chamber of Secrets openings.[2]

During the Battle of Hogwarts, Professor Sprout, Neville Longbottom, and other students, lobbed Mandrakes over the Castle's battlements to attack the Death Eaters.[3]

During the Calamity which affected the wizarding world in the 2010s, Mandrakes were amongst the various magical items caught up as Foundables which had to be dealt with by members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force.[5]

Description and traits

Sprout

Professor Sprout teaches her Second year Herbology students how to pot young Mandrakes

Harry and Ron re-potting Mandrakes GIF

Harry and Ron replanting Mandrakes

CS C6

A Mandrake being pulled from its roots

Whenever unearthed, the root screams. The scream of a mature Mandrake when it is unearthed will kill any person who hears it, but a young Mandrake's screams will usually only knock a person out for several hours. When Hogwarts students study Mandrakes in Herbology class, Pomona Sprout had the students wear earmuffs to protect their ears from the Mandrake's cries.[1]

Mandrakes not only resemble humans, but also have similar behaviours to them. In the 1992-1993 school year, the Mandrakes, at one point of time, became moody and secretive, which indicated that they were reaching adolescence.[6] Later on, they threw a loud and raucous party, which is comparable to humans when they are teenagers, which made Pomona Sprout very happy indeed.[7] Rubeus Hagrid also mentioned the Mandrakes having acne. Mandrakes are fully matured when they start moving into each others pots. When matured, Mandrakes can be cut up to serve as a prime ingredient for the Mandrake Restorative Draught, which is used to cure those who have been Petrified.[2][8]

A Mandrake's scream is very similar to (if not the same as) a banshee's scream, which is also fatal.

The Dugbog's favourite food is Mandrakes, which leads to Mandrake-growers finding nothing but a bloody mess when pulling their plants out.[9] Flesh-Eating Slugs are known to favour eating Mandrakes as well.[10]

Stewed Mandrake is used in Potion-making, forming an essential part of most antidotes.[1] Their leaves are also used in potions as well.[11]

Etymology

The (European) Mandrake plant has been used since ancient times as a medicinal plant and has a tradition associated with magical activities and witchcraft. It is a member of the nightshade family. It contains hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and mandragorin. Medically, it has been used as a pain killer and a sedative. It was used in ancient times for surgery. An overdose, though, can be fatal.

Because of its roots' shapes resembling humans, it has been used in magical operations, and as a supposed aphrodisiac. There are variations on the plant, Mandragora Offininarum being the most usual form, with the smaller Mandragora autumnalis having the same properties. Some folk traditions call the latter (M. autumnalis) variety as "Womandrake" in distinction to M. Officinarum as "Mandrake." A third variant, Mandragora turcomanica, is a nearly extinct and very rare variety, found mostly in Turkey and a few areas of Iran. M. turcomanica is distinguished from M. autumnalis by having larger fruit.

In the Western Hemisphere, another plant, Podophyllum petaltum, is called the American Mandrake. The American Mandrake is unrelated to the European variety, and has fewer medical applications. It, too, is poisonous.

Behind the scenes

Mandrake 2

The LEGO portrayal of a Mandrake

  • In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, mandrakes can be found throughout the castle and grounds and their cries can be used to break glass objects, but can be only be handled when wearing earmuffs. Also the player can make it sing as an extra (cheat code or unlocked extra).[12]
  • In the Game Boy Color version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the "Mandrake Root" item does not resemble the babies seen in other versions, and in fact looks more like a leaf than a root, suggesting the item is merely misnamed.

Appearances

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 106 images related to Mandrake.
MandrakePOP

A Mandrake as a POP! Vinyl

MandrakeWU

A baby Mandrake as shown in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 6 (Gilderoy Lockhart)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 9 (The Writing on the Wall)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 31 (The Battle of Hogwarts)
  4. ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ministers for Magic" at Wizarding World
  5. ↑ Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
  6. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 13 (The Very Secret Diary)
  7. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 14 (Cornelius Fudge)
  8. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 16 (The Chamber of Secrets)
  9. ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
  10. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
  11. ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 26 (The Second Task)
  12. ↑ LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Herbology
Pottedmandrake
Herbologists
Astrid Cole · Clifford Cromwell · Marmaduke Dale · Blossom Degrasse · Miranda Goshawk · Alfred Lawley · Olgae Marinus · Beaumont Marjoribanks · Nepali wizard · Gethsemane Prickle · Sanjay Shanker · Selina Sapworthy · Phyllida Spore · Yubert Thorne · Tilden Toots · Hadrian Whittle · Winogrand
Herbology at Hogwarts
Herbology Award · Herbology Lesson Cup · Herbology Race Cup · Herbology Store · Hidden Herbology Corridor
Greenhouses One · Two · Three · Four · Five · Six · Seven · Professor's office
Professors Mirabel Garlick's predecessor · Mirabel Garlick · Herbert Beery · Pomona Sprout · Neville Longbottom
Textbooks Flesh-Eating Trees of the World · Ingredient Encyclopedia · One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi · Winogrand's Wondrous Water Plants
Plants studied and grown at Hogwarts
Aconite · Alihotsy · Asphodel · Belladonna · Bouncing Bulb · Bubotuber · Bubotuber pus · Chinese Chomping Cabbage · Cowbane · Dandelion · Devil's Snare · Dirigible Plum · Dittany · Fanged Geranium · Fat cactus-like plant · Fire seed bush · Flitterbloom · Floo · Flutterby bush · Fluxweed · Gillyweed · Ginger · Greenhouse Tree · Hemlock · Honking daffodil · Ivy · Knotgrass · Lady's Mantle · Lavender · Leaping Toadstool · Lovage · Mandrake · Mimbulus mimbletonia · Mistletoe · Moly · Nettle · Peppermint · Puffapod · Raspberry · Rose · Sage · Screechsnap · Scurvy grass · Self-fertilising shrub · Shrivelfig · Snargaluff · Sneezewort · Sopophorous plant · Sopophorous Bean · Spiky Bush · Spiky Prickly Plant · Stinksap · Sugar Shrub · Toad-eating plant · Tormentil · Umbrella Flower · Valerian · Vampiric vegetation · Venomous Tentacula · Walking plant · Wax vegetables · Whomping Willow · Wiggentree · Wild rice · Wormwood
Spells taught in Herbology at Hogwarts
Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Herbivicus Charm (Herbivicus) · Incendio Duo Spell (Incendio Duo) · Lumos Solem Spell (Lumos Solem) · Severing Charm (Diffindo)
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