Is there anything in the HP world that bothers you?

[Dicentra spectabilis]

No: HPFGUIDX 56459

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Melanie L Ellis <emeleel at j...>
wrote:

> 
> I just don't understand why JKR had to make the Mandrakes seem so 
> *human* in the story!
 
Here's one reason:

mandrake (màn´drâk´) noun
1.  a. A southern European plant (Mandragora officinarum) having
internal greenish-yellow flowers and a branched root. This plant was
once believed to have internal magical powers because its root
resembles the human body.

The mandrake already has "human" qualities in folklore, so JKR is
simply picking up on that and having fun with it.

--Dicentra, who never read CoS to youngsters, so it never occurred to
her that it might be disturbing