Meaning

noun the root of the mandrake plant; used medicinally or as a narcotic

noun a plant of southern Europe and North Africa having purple flowers, yellow fruits and a forked root formerly thought to have magical powers

originFrom Middle English mandrake, mandroke, an alteration of mandragora with the ending -dragora reinterpreted as related to dragon and replaced with native drake, from Old English mandragora, from Medieval Latin mandragorās, from Ancient Greek μανδραγόρας (mandragóras).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0