Magical Plants
For a lot of us, we may be familiar with the plants which grow in nature around us and even in our own backyards, however for many of us, the plants mentioned in this lesson may be ones that you are very unfamiliar with because of the fact that these plants only exist in the magical world.
The first of the magical plants which we will be looking at is a bubotuber. The bubotuber is found in the UK and particulary in the forbidden forest just outside of the Hogwarts castle. The plant has a black slug like appearance and is covered in shiny protrusions which contain strong petrol smelling pus. The pus which is contained in the protrusions on the bubotubers surface, is a yellowish-greenish colour and can be used as a treatment and a cure for severe cases of acne but only when it is properly diluted. If one were to apply bubotuber pus to their skin without properly diluting it first, they could find themselves looking far worse than they did before as it can be quite dangerous. It is also notable that the bubotuber can seen squirming and moving about.
The next plant we will examine is the snargaluff. The snargaluff appears to most as an ordinary gnarled stump but it is something that you don't want to get confused! These plants, native to England, have hidden vines which are completely covered in thorns which it uses to attack people when it is provoked, for this reason, it is best to be handled by two or three people. It isn't suprising that a snargaluff has been used as a weapon before due to its unique mechanism of defence. During the battle of hogwarts, Professor Sprout as well as some students, used the snargaluffs to attack death eaters with! Because of how dangerous it can be, the snargaluff is only handled by students in their sixth year at Hogwarts, where they are instructed on how to extract the green pulsating, grapefruit sized pods, which are contained inside of the snargaluff.
The Venomous Tentacula is another dangerous plant which is studied in herbology. Found worldwide, this green spiky plant with its mobile vines will try and grab any living prey it can! It releases poison into its victims through its shoots and its spikes and it can even bite people. Due to the fact that this plant is so deadly and lethal, it has to be handled with extreme care. If you or someone else happens to be trapped by a venomous tentacula, it is advisable to whip out your wand and cast the diffindo spell to stun it and sever its arms. This plant, just like the snargaluff was also used as a weapon during the battle of Hogwarts where they were used to attack unsuspecting death eaters! I think it is also worthy to mention that the seeds of this plant are class C non-tradeable goods and have been used in Weasley Wizard Wheezes products.
A Venomous Tentacula Plant.
A plant which most of you should have some knowledge about is the mimbulus mimbletonia plant. This plant is considered to be a very rare one and is assumed to come from Assyria, a middle eastern region. This plant looks like a small grey cactus like plant which is covered in large boils rather than spines, these boils are used to release stinksap when prodded. Stinksap is a dark green liquid substance that while it is non posionous, it smells absolutely horrible like rancid manure! Poor unfortunate people had to experience this when Neville longbottom gave a demonstration to Harry Potter on the Hogwarts Express . An amazing thing which is known about this plant however is that it can be used to help with shyness, timidity and nervousness in people, Neville longbottom being a prime example!
Fifth year students at Hogwarts studying herbology are introduced to the screechsnap plant. These plants which move around and make noise can be assumed to be fairly harmless. During 1996, Susan bones accidently put too much dragon dung onto some screechsnap seedlings which irritated them and made them squirm and screech!
Another plant which a student has accidently done something with is the puffapod. One of these plants was dropped by Ron Weasley accidently during herbology in his third year. By doing this, the bright pink seedpods which contained shining beans fell onto the floor of the greenhouse and flowered instantly.
Our next plant is another one of the dangerous kind. The devil's snare was first mentioned in the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone/Sorcerers Stone. This plant with its tenticle like appendages and its springy tendrils and vines will strangle anyone who touches it! For that very reason, we can assume that Professor Sprout selected this plant as a defence method to protect the stone. If someone is trapped by one of these plants, it is best that they try to stay calm and relaxed as the devil's snare kills people faster if they are more tense. To escape, one needs to expose this plant to bright light or flames as it prefers to live in a dark or damp environment. This plant, as well as guarding objects has been used to assasinate people and to attack enemies.
A Devil's Snare Plant.
Bouncing Bulbs are next up on our list of plants to look at. These purple stemmed plants like to jump and bounce around when they are not properly restrained and can often be quite difficult to deal with. Although these plants sound a bit fun, they can be quite dangerous! Small bulbs can easily be handled but full sized bouncing bulbs can reach the size of a doorway! And when one of these plants feel threatened, the will attempt to hit the attacker. Casting the knockback jinx can easily control a young bulb however for larger ones, you will be required to cast incendio to wither them. Fourth year herbology students were required to re pot these and Harry Potter was even struck in the face with a smaller one!
As well as all these great plants, other ones include the fire seed bush, self-fertilising shrub, spiky bush, spiky prickly plant, umbrella flowers and wild rice.
I hope you all enjoyed this months lesson and are ready and excited for the assignment!