The leaves that hung but never grew

Last Week some Men being at work at Sir John Crelym’s, in Wotton-Park in Surrey, found under the Root of an Oak Tree a Mandrake, which was taken from thence alive, and lived about two Hours. A great Number of Persons of Distinction daily resort to Sir John’s Seat to see that great Curiosity, the like being never known in the Memory of Man.

from The Daily Gazetteer, Monday 19th March, 1739


There is a splendid medieval picture of a mandrake on David Badke’s fine Medieval Bestiary site.


tags: marvels

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