 In the circumscription in which "Mandragora officinarum" is the only Mediterranean species, it is native to regions around the Mediterranean Sea, within the borders of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco in north Africa; southern Spain, southern Portugal, Italy included Sardinia and Sicily, (Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a novel about it), former Yugoslavia, Greece and Cyprus in southern Europe; southern Turkey; Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan in the Levant.It is usually found in open habitats, such as light woodland and disturbed sites, including olive groves, fallow land, waysides, railway embankments and ruins, from sea level to .When "Mandragora autumnalis" is regarded as the main Mediterranean species, "M. officinarum" is native only to north Italy and part of the coast of former Yugoslavia.