Digging up a mandrake

…the most famous myth about the mandrake is that “the shrieks of an uprooted mandrake would kill anyone who hears it”.

This superstitious belief was widely adopted in the Middle Ages, when traditional herbalists were considered to be witches associated with Hecate Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, who is often illustrated as a black dog. This may explain the origin of the suggested practice for extracting the mandrake safely - dig into the ground to expose the roots, draw three circles around the plant with a sword and tie a rope around a starved black dog and the mandrake; throw fresh meat to the dog, which will run towards it and pull the mandrake from the ground…

from The Love Potion by Tavian Hunter, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

ink on paper

Belladonna II

In 16th-century Italy, women applied eye drops prepared from deadly nightshade because it dilated the pupil, which was thought to make them look beautiful. Atropine eye drops are still used by ophthalmologists when they dilate a patient’s pupils to get a good view of the retina during an eye exam.

Ink on paper

Belladonna

Belladonna means ‘beautiful woman’ as it was used by Renaissance women to dilate their pupils. Atropa is in reference to Atropos, one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology who snipped the thread of a person’s life and decided their death.

ink drawing on paper

Deady Nightshade or Belladonna

Deadly nightshade is a perennial plant with long, thin branches.

Leaves: oval-shaped, untoothed with smooth edges and pointed ends. They grow on stalks in an alternate pattern and are poisonous.

Flowers: bell-shaped with purple and green colouration, around 2.5–3cm in length.

Fruit: shiny black berries with five sepals visible where the fruit attaches to the plant. The berries are also highly poisonous.

Belladonna, henbane and mandrake plants, ink on Japanese paper

St Michael and the Fallen Angel

The park was was full of people. She walked arm in arm with St Michael and the Fallen Angel, past the boating lake, past a Santa in Nike trainers making sausage dog balloons, past a green Kermit resting on a bench with his hands folded on his stomach. The fountain with the sad Queen was frozen and children were smashing the ice and skimming the broken pieces. St Michael said, ‘just enjoy what comes to you’. The Fallen Angel was looking for a cafe with gas heaters, hoping for coffee and a slice of roscón. ‘Better not sit down too close to people just for now,’ St Michael whispered. The Fallen Angel sighed and pulled his green fur coat closer. ‘Don't worry he said to me, ‘it isn't real, but it is very warm and I like the colour, don't you?’ ‘Yes’, I said, ‘it really suits you’. He looked pleased. We walked past a bush with dull black berries hanging very close together. ‘They are sure to be poisonous’, said St Michael. A sign with a flower on said that that the park was planting natural species of flowers and pulling up the exotic ones. ‘How virtuous’, said the Fallen Angel.

Watercolour on paper