a Mediterranean plant of the potato family with whitish or purple flowers and a large forked root traditionally thought to resemble the human form and formerly used to promote conception, as a laxative, or to induce sleep or hypnosis: Mandragora officinarum
the root of a mandrake, formerly used to promote conception, as a laxative, or to induce sleep or hypnosis
Go, and catch a falling star, get with child a mandrake root — John Donne
Middle English from Old English mandragora from Latin and Greek mandragoras. The form mandrake is thought to come from man1, because of the shape of the root + drake2 dragon, because of its special properties