Goe, and catche a falling starre,
Get with child a mandrake roote,
Tell me, where all past yeares are,
Or who cleft the Divels foot,
Teach me to heare Mermaides singing,
The  mandrake , or  mandragora  is a plant which was traditionally given human characteristics in witchcraft. It is also a hallucinogenic drug. 
 
 (artist’s impression) 
 J K Rowling featured mandrake root in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Profressor Sprout taught the children how to re-plant them. Her mandrakes were babies that screamed.
Song