In the circumscription in which Mandragora officinarum is the only Mediterranean species, it is native to southern Portugal and countries around the Mediterranean sea: Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco in north Africa; southern Spain, Italy, 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 1,200 m