Mandragora autumnalis dormancy?

[Guest reville]

Hi

i was just hoping to confirm from the solanaceae fans that this species does in fact undergo a transition to dormancy around this time i year? (would i be wrong to assume the name reflects this habit?)

when should i expect regrowth? Autumn?

and generally how old do they have to be before flowering?

[theobromos]

The name reflects the fact that it flowers in autumn.

[Guest reville]

Yes, but do we know anything about it going deciduous? it makes sense in the dry summers

Amunda? Spikey?

[This message has been edited by reville (edited 14 November 2002).]

[Guest reville]

http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week080.shtml

Mandragora autumnalis is a perennial herb with thick tuberous roots native to Southern Europe.

Mandrake roots contain the alkaloid hyoscymine that is used for motion sickness and as a preoperative

anesthetic. In early times Mandrake had magical properties ascribed to it because the roots sometimes

have humanlike form.

Blooming Time: Autumn Flowers are violet, to 1 inch across.

Culture: Mandragora autumnalis does best in full sun to part shade. In the greenhouse we grow them

under 25% shade. The potting medium should consist of 2 parts peat moss to 2 parts sand to 1 part

loam. Keep the plants well watered and fertilize monthly during the growing season. If the plants become

too dry they will exhibit summer dormancy.

Propagation: Mandragora autumnalis is propagated by division of the tubers in late autumn or by seed.

Seed needs a period of cold moist stratification before sowing.

[Torsten]

bugger, mine went dormant due to our previous watershortage. I almost turfed them out.

[Guest reville]

You wouldnt be the first person to do that

ive heard a few stories.

Mine was looking lovely through winter and then i sent it off to a magicians garden where i felt it would best be at home in the ground by the lemon tree.

Precautiosn were taken against the lime in the soil by digging in extra compost.

I was hoping she would reward us with seed later in the year.

Lucky i checked.So i imagine they will break dormancy with lowered ground temps and fresh rainfall? so march/april (if we're lucky).

If not i guess i can divide the plant up

[yggdrasil]

most of mine here in SA are just begining to die back, they emerged in the middle of april and one flowered (a 2-3 year old plant) late july-early august.

She set no seed though, and with the 25 flowers or so that she had I thought one would set, I've been wondering if I'll need two to flower at the same time, any ideas anyone?

Careful with the water with womandrakes as root rot is a big killer, often rotting the root from the crown down, this seems to happen more often with over-head watering.

Cheers

[Guest reville]

thanks Amunda, you're a champ!

so i shouldnt water until - well, when the rains set in? april.

And the plant i got of you , was that from seed? www.alchemy-works.com is getting goo reports on poppies.org and they say theyve just sourced seed of M offcinarum that should be here any day/week now

Mandragora is cleared by ICON for import, so this is good.

[Caldeye]

my little m.autumnalis seedling went dormant in August (late summer here) when it was only 2 months old

now it started growing again

I'm not sure though if it gets as much light as it would like. Are fluoros enough or not?

[spikey]

can't sayabout autumanlis

but with offcinialis, it goes dormant in summer... but it won't grow back in winter if it's really really dry on water ( i live in israel where we don't get much rain and i never seen it dormant in winter...)

i would like to study autmanalis, don't think it grown around here

mandrakes are cool plants

[Guest reville]

hey spikey

If mine fruits ill be sure to send you seed.

Did you get that second parcel?

So it seems between us that we have the two most famous species but what of the other 3?

Has anyone seen them offered or growing anywhere?

[yggdrasil]

Hi,

Rev - I think you should water every couple 3-4 weeks of so during dormancy.

Caldeye - I don't know how much light these plants need, I usually have the opposite problem.

Water and mandrakes

Spikey could you please tell us approxamatly where in Israel you find mandrakes? I looked up Israel's average yearly rainfall, 565mm and Adelaide's (plain's bit only as including the hills make a huge difference to the average) which is 410mm. Mine can still get root rot in the winter months. A factor may be that Israel's rain mostly occurs in jan and feb while Adelaide's is spread over about 5 month april-may to sep-oct.

Mandragora shebbearei now called Przewalskia tangutica and Mandragora turcomanica are both on the list of B & T world seeds for 10 and 24 euro's a packet respectivly, although neither are cleared by ICON.

Cheers

[This message has been edited by Amunda (edited 18 November 2002).]

[yggdrasil]

Rev - your Mandragora autumnalis is seed grown from Horizon Herbs in the US. http://www.chatlink.com/~herbseed/

[spikey]

well

in israel it's true that the avrage rain falls is about 560... but that's not including desert areas(but mandrakes don't grow there any way)

mandrakes grow on the whole country excpt the desert...

they grow in plaaces they call in hebrew "bata" which usualy means the mid stage from an open field to a forest

which means it grows in an open area with lots of space and light, and probebly drainge too....but that's officinialis, dunno about autumanalis

just try not to get the ground too wet, cause it never gets like that here, excpt near creeks, and mandrakes don't grow near creeks

so the trick is to give it lots of sun

and not to let the ground get too wet...

i think