About this design
This design admires the mystical plant belonging to the nightshade family, the Mandrake.
Mandrakes have long been connected to magic and are often used in ceremonies, scientifically this can be explained due to the hallucinogenic alkaloids present in the roots.
Not everybody believes in these explainations however and science wasn't as refined or trusted a thousand years ago, therefore over the years the Mandrake has steadily gained a very mysterious and fearful reputation.
According to the legend, when the root is dug up it screams and kills all who hear it. Literature includes complex directions for harvesting a mandrake root in relative safety. For example Josephus (c. 37 AD Jerusalem – c. 100) gives the following directions for pulling it up:
"A furrow must be dug around the root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog must get away. The dog then endeavours to follow him, and so easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly instead of his master. After this the root can be handled without fear."








