One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

Part 1: Foreword
Part 2: A G
Part 3: H N
Part 4: O Z
Part 5: Appendix

By Phyllida Spore

Part 1: Foreword
What distinguishes a plant from an animal? In the magical study of Herbology, this
question becomes particularly important. As many of our magical plants display an almost
sentient intelligence and appearance, it becomes hard to tell what should be classified as plant or
creature.
It is true that the common distinction between plant and animal does not always apply or
seems weak in some situation. Due to this, another explanation is necessary. Any magical plant
relies on being firmly rooted in something (generally dirt or compost) for at least the growth
period of its life. Secondly, a plant is almost always reliant on its sense of touch, rather than sight
or smell, the dominant senses for an animal. Finally, a plant lacks the capability to communicate
in word or thought.
While possessing only one of these criteria might still qualify a specimen as an animal,
possessing all three would most assuredly classify it as a plant.

Part 2: A G
Aligriwid
Common Name: Aligriwid (Alternanthera philoxeroides; Family Amaranthaceae)
Location: It is Native to South American Rainforests, but can be transported to foreign countries
if kept in the correct environment.
Description: It has light green leaves, which are opposite and simple, and a flowering head of
small white flowers borne in axils. It has a yellow stalk, which emerges 3 feet from the ground.
To Muggle eyes it is merely a plant, which provides cover for some wildlife, and is used by
blackbird swarms for roosting.
Common Uses: The Aligriwid, if consumed, will make the consumer mute for exactly 73 hours.
He or she will not be able to speak, cough, sneeze or make any form of noise. For this to work,
the plant must be boiled in salt water for 2 hours during a full moon, and then kept in an airtight
container until consumption. When eaten it grows in one's stomach until if pokes out of the
mouth, blocking the voice box. This process is extremely painful. After 73 hours, the Aligriwid
disintegrates, forming a sticky lining around the stomach.
Precautions: Once Aligriwid has disintegrated, do not consume any artificial sugar or any
sweets. Medieval wizards, to help hide their secrets, used this plant. It was a form of blackmail;
none wanted to be forced to eat Aligriwid. The Ministry of Magic outlawed it in 1769, and it is
still illegal today.
Care: The plant must be kept in a moist environment; if dried out its affects will not be
prevalent.

Cecylahys
Common Name: Cecylahys
Location: Peru, Argentina, Brazil and other sections of South America
Description: The Cecylahys is a woody vine with leaves up to one foot long. The leaves can be
ground into a powder which, when added to goats milk can make an extremely effective pimple
remover. The plant produces pink, grape-sized berries, which will give one a fantastic singing
voice when consumed. The wood is a blackish brown with many bumps and ridges. The vine is
hard, heavy, tough, and when freshly cut produces yellow wax.
Common Uses: It is used in the Amazon to protect newborn babies from harmful infections. It
was also used as a snakebite remedy.
Precautions: If this plant is exposed to dragon dung, a horrible phenomenon occurs. Firstly, the
long leaves will grow many small bumps along the veins. After a few seconds these bumps will
swell, and then burst-spurting an acidic yellow poison in the proximity of 10 meters. Also, the
dragon-dung's odor will increase by 500%, paralyzing anyone within 1 kilometer in seconds.
Care: The grape-sized berries will shrink and then wither. If anyone has eaten a berry from that
particular vine in the past three weeks, they will lose their hair. It would be incurable without
making an immensely complex potion, which must be swallowed within three days of the hair
loss.

Crumptons Crumpets
Common Name: Crumpton's Crumpets
Location: Crumpton's Crumpets are indigenous to, and naturally grow, only in Sheffield,
England. They require rich, soft soil and copious amounts of both dragon dung and rain. Though
this may seem something, which can be gotten anywhere, it is the specific mix in the peat moors
of Sheffield that give the Crumpets the ability to grow beyond seedlings. A wizard by the name
of Crumpton Utt crossbred them in an attempt to invent a plant, which could be grown anywhere
and would flourish in any circumstances, and hopefully, be eaten. Only one of his goals was met.
Crumpton's Crumpets are extremely delicate, needing the most tender of touches and nurturing
imaginable, and their seeds never fall far from them, so they tend to remain in dense little
clusters. However, they can be eaten, and are in fact quite a rare delicacy.
Description: The plant grows to about two feet in height, the dark purple leaves growing in tight
clusters about the central stalk. The flowers are a golden brown color, which only heightens the
appearance of the crumpet-shaped blossoms. They take approximately three months to mature.
Common Uses: In addition to their delicious taste, 'Crumpton's Crumpets' have many magical
uses. When stewed and distilled into a kind of wine, they are said to give pleasant dreams to
those who suffer from nightmares. When dried and used in potions, they can tempt the appetite
of even the sickliest individual, and will put flesh back on the bones of anyone, no matter how
malnourished. In fact, one could travel a desert with no more provisions than a pocketful of these
plants, and still live to tell the tale, for they provide more nourishment than the most decadent of
feasts.
Precautions: The flowers must be given willingly of the plant, or they will be the most deadly
poison imaginable. Any who pluck an unwilling flower to eat will sicken; their skin turn black,
and eventually, they will die.
Care: Within the peat moor area of Sheffield, in which Crumpton developed the plant, they grow
without so much as a whisper of care. Growing them in captivity requires much care and
delicacy from the planting of the minute seeds to the harvesting of the leaves, flowers, stem and
roots. Plant the seeds in a soil that is an even mixture of peat moor from Sheffield, dragon dung
(Chinese Fireball works best) and sand. Water liberally never letting the soil completely dries.
When it is time to harvest the flowers, allow the flowers to be given. Do not use the leaves, stem
or roots until after the third time that blossoms are given. Time between full blossoming ranges
between three days and two weeks.

Frosty
Common Name: Frosty (Firgolo Lambastini)
Location: The Firgolo Lambastini is found in forests in the Northern Hemisphere that have
much old wood decay and have deep areas that receive very little light. Frosty prefers to live
under the edge of rotting wood or in the deep recesses of rocks. As Firgolo Lambastini has the
ability to move to new locations, it is rare that one will be able to find the same plant in the same
location. The plant seems to shrink into itself during daylight hours, though during the night,
they seek to gain as much moonglow as possible; the less moonlight available, the more that the
plant will move about trying to find just the right angle to gain the moonlight, yet still in a
position where it will be able to hide in the dark once the sun rises.
Description: Frosty has a long, delicate white stem off which grow ten white leaves a month.
The stem has a waxy sheen to it and the petals are fuzzy on the tops. At the top of the stem is an
upside-down teardrop shaped bright blue bulb surrounded with hard spikes, which prevent
creatures from disturbing the plant. On the night of the Blue Moon (once every 2.7 years), the
bulb on the top of the plant will open and unfurl. The petals are five inches in length and three
inches in width and are a bright blue with a shimmer sparkle to them. During the night of the
Blue Moon, the flower, while in bloom, sings a very eerie, song. This song is essential to the
reproduction of the plant; nearly invisible spores are emitted and float in the air where they
collide with the spores of other plants. Once they have collided, the spores fall to the earth where
they then bury themselves.
Common uses: Pepper up Potion; Invigoration Draught; Scintillation Solution; directly applying
soaked petals to a third-degree burn.
Precautions: Use of the plant should be restricted to low levels of light as too much light, or
direct sunlight, even after the plant has been harvested, can decrease the plants strength.
Care: Once uprooted, it needs to be preserved in specific conditions and by specific people
alone. As are most colds and flu that it cures, this plant is rather stubborn and finicky about the
way it is to be taken care of, and in the hands of an inexperienced Herbologist, it will expire.
This plant requires the most adequate measures of care, and a deviation can be fatal to it. It
thrives on water (being as it is about three parts out of four water), and needs a good supply. The
water must be fresh and distilled; any minute component of dirt can destroy the plant. When it
comes to fertilizers, this plant detests the manmade variety, thriving on mist, to be used every
day, as can be drawn up using a mister, and dry ice, which is only to be used once a month, and
in minute quantities. The best soil is very damp clay, found in old forests. It likes the company of
ferns and is often found to respond well to a Herbologist who has ferns in their greenhouse.
Frosty should never be repotted on one's own accord. The plant is capable of motion and will
move to a suitable locale only when tired of its old spot. Only a very advanced Herbologist could
possibly predict where this plant would be best off, and even so, it is wiser to leave it to its own
discretion. Sunshine is fatal to its white petals, which turn a sick yellow (a sure sign of illness)
when left exposed to sunshine for too long. On the other hand, moonshine is extremely healthy

for the plant, and it is found to voluntarily move to spots in order to gain more thereof. Less
moonshine can result in a condition called Greyment, which is essentially the drying up of all
healthy elements in the plant. It is imperative to be careful about the measurement of the
aforementioned elements. Too much water can cause this plant to become contaminated; any
potion then made will leave the patient in a state of inebriation, or cause them to lose
consciousness, depending on the amount of overexposure. Too little water, however, can result in
dehydration. A lack of mist can kill this plant; it enjoys the mist that stands over lakes and rivers
at dawn, and is best simply left in a mist. The overdose of dry ice, however, can murder this
plant. It will droop and cause food poisoning of the most disturbing variety to one who drinks a
potion made from it.

Green Stone
Common Name: The Green Stone
Location: West Coast of North America; usually in dense forests, around Redwood trees.
Description: The Green Stone, while in its plant guise, looks very similar to a fern. But it does
have the ability, which it utilizes when the weather is cold; to 'masquerade' as a moss covered
rock. The process is quite simple. The fern curls up upon itself, and the outer layer of the plant
hardens, forming rock-like stiffness.
Common Uses: While in its 'rocklike' state, the insides of the plant are extremely useful for a
specific type of potion. The potion turns one's outer layer of skin to a rocklike hardness,
providing shell-like defense to the person.
Precautions: The plant is easily reverted to its plant 'form' by warming it to a temperature about
60 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, the plant unfurls, and becomes a fern-like plant, with
no particular magical uses.
Care: The only way to determine if a fern is a Green Stone plant is to place the plant in a cold
place for an hour and watch the results. The same means may also be accomplished with a
Freezing spell, but an hour is still needed to observe the full effect of the cold.

Part 3: H N
Katrinitata
Common Name: Katrin or Katrinitata
Location: Forests of Ireland
Description: The Katrin looks similar to the English Mandrake, with several differences along
the way. For one, the Katrin grow in muddy, dirty water, and cannot survive in plain soil. The
plant that grows from its head, a similarity of it and the Mandragora, is not shaped like a garden
onion, more so like a lily pad. A small red flower appears when they have fully grown and have
begun to secrete a liquid known as Katrinitata-sheznik.
Common Uses: The Katrin, or Katrinitata, is used in many types of sleeping drafts. The
Katrinitata's liquid is a very valuable potion ingredient. It is actually not know what the purpose
of the Katrinitatas body is, because everything, except the Katrinitata-sheznik which is secreted
in the purplish plants underarm region, is taken from the large red or white flower on the large
greenish lily-pad.
Precautions: The effect of the Katrinitata-sheznik is fatal, even a small droplet on the skin can
kill the infected person within forty-eight hours. Unlike many plant liquids, this liquid affects the
person differently as they die. Instead of dying from internal bleeding, the infected persons suffer
horrendously as the small liquid particles eat away at their nervous system. This results in
extremely violent case of the shakes and twitches. This liquid was thought to be the cause of
great potato famine, when a muggle discovered the Katrinitata, and tried to plant it in his field
with potatoes. The Katrin plant died, and the liquid was flushed from its body, leaking into the
potatoes. When the potatoes were taken to market, the liquid was then spread to the hands of
farmers, and to other potatoes.
Care: The Katrin neared extinction in the late 1950s. The Katrin were often mistaken for
gnomes, and launched through the air, out of people yards, swamps, and gardens. As gnomes can
take the rough landing of a gnome throw, the Katrin cannot, thusly it dyed out quickly. The
Katrin was reborn by an Irish Wizard, quite by accident though. He was fiddling around out by
his pond and found a Katrin trying to sneak into the pond. He kicked it, and though it dyed when
it hit the water, the Katrinitata-sheznik was secreted, and millions of tiny plants were born into
this pond. This piece of property is now known as the "International Katrinitata Reservation".

Lace-of-Frost
Common Name: Lace-of-Frost
Location: Lace-of-Frost is a rare and delicate plant that thrives in the bare soil of cold climates.
Usually found in the stripped ground that marks the progress of a glacier, its roots run deep into
the rocky soil, taking nourishment from the snowmelt.
Description: It has long, slender white-grey stalks that tend to grow in clumps, with pale blue
(almost translucent) delicate leaves intertwining along the length of the plant that give it its
name.
Common Uses: In minute doses, tinctures from the leaves can heal fevers and inflammations of
any sort. But the true value of the plant is revealed when the juices inside the stalks and roots of
twenty plants are slowly distilled for a period of sixty days. The resulting potion must be handled
carefully, for a single drop will drain every bit of heat from whatever it touches before
evaporating. Hence, any creature or hex that involves fire can be made null by the presence of
the liquid.
Precautions: When held, the plant almost immediately begins draining warmth from the holder;
but if the heat is too extreme, as from a furnace, the plant begins to slowly evaporate like water.
Care: The very smell of the potion will make dragons and salamanders tractable; for they can
sense that to touch it likely spell their doom. By the same token, however, the dung of dragons
cannot be allowed to come into contact with the plants. The dung contains too much of the
essence of dragons, creatures of fire, and the plants will evaporate in short order if fertilized with
large amounts of the compound. Smaller amounts of the compound have little effect but to stunt
the plant's growth. Many wizards believe the properties of Lace-of-Frost were developed as a
defense against those creatures that would feed on it; the plant being rare as it is, if creatures fed
upon it, it would disappear in short order.

Lobbianus
Common Name: Lobbianus Plant or the Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus)
Location: Mild to moderate climates, blooming only for a brief period in late spring; very
common in Europe and North America.
Description: The Lobbianus plant has blood red flowers unfurl from a tubular stem. The
Lobbianus signature bloom is surrounded by a dense, waxy collection of leaves that have no
inherent magical value.
Common Uses: Often found as a staple ingredient in beauty potions.
Precautions: Use of this plant in a potion brewed by anyone of even minimal good looks will in
fact create the reverse effect, rendering the drinker malformed.
Care: The shredded lobbianus petals, when applied to a beauty potion, may only be utilized by
the truly hideous.

Mandrake (Mandragora)
Common Name: Mandrake or Mandragora
Location: Center of dense forests; usually in Northern Britain and Central Germany
Description: Mandrake seedlings are little plants, purplish green in color with what look like
green human children growing where the roots would be. These plants grow and mature in the
same way a human child would. Their adolescence is marked by acne problems and secretive
behavior. Once they reach adulthood, they can be harvested for potions and draughts.
Common Uses: The Mandrake root is a powerful restorative, forming an essential part of most
antidotes, including one for Petrifaction. The Mandrake Restorative Draft returns people who are
transfigured or cursed to their original state.
Precautions: The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to humans, so special care must be taken when
growing them. Even as a baby, the Mandrake's howls can knock a person out for a couple of
hours, so earmuffs or earplugs must always be worn. The Dugbog is particularly fond of eating
Mandrakes, and is one of their most fierce natural predators.
Care: Many witches and wizards refuse to harvest the Mandrake root because of its close
resemblance to a human being. They prefer to buy the already harvested and processed
Mandrake root available at the local Apothecary, thus pretending they had nothing to do with the
demise of it. Fresh Mandrake is more powerful, however, so their squeamish nature damages
their potions effectiveness.

Narvika
Common Name: Narvika
Location: This vine is native to the taiga in southern Siberia.
Description: The Narvika vine, on first sight, resembles a morning glory. One way to tell a
Narvika plant from a morning glory is to look for red streaks on the violet flowers.
Common Uses: Functions mainly as a decoration in Britain, but in Russia, it is widely used in
warming potions during the winter. Its sap can also be refined into a fuel for lanterns. A single
flame burning this fuel may warm an entire room to a comfortable temperature even during the
coldest of winters.
Precautions: The Narvika can accept any kind of red blood except dragons' blood. Muggle blood
kills the plant immediately.
Care: What sets the Narvika apart from its fellow vines is its need for blood as a fertilizer in
order to grow well, and to augment its magical properties. A Narvika without blood is no
different from a morning glory, and will in fact die within a week. Note, though, that feeding a
morning glory blood will not make it a Narvika. From the perspective of Muggle science, red
blood pigments are rich in iron. This source of iron apparently is vital for the Narvika's survival.
According to a study done by a group of Russian Herbologists in 1992, Narvika plants also make
use of the immune system cells within the blood in order to fight off diseases, to which they are
extremely vulnerable. One disease in particular, the Volga Vinepox, to which all mammals are
immune, is able to kill off a Narvika in several hours. Naturally-growing Narvika usually
germinate around animal carcasses. Once the blood has started seeping into the ground the hardy
seeds grow into seedlings very quickly. Once the roots are sufficiently developed, they begin
draining blood from the carcass. The blood is then stored as clots in the roots and lower stem, for
further use as the plant matures. This store of blood will run out within a week, therefore
guaranteeing a short lifespan for the plant. In this small space of time, the Narvika matures at an
extremely fast rate, climbing nearby trees and flowering within five days. Seedpods form by the
sixth day, and the seeds, resembling little black bullets, are forcefully ejected from the pods when
the plant dies on the seventh or eighth day. These 'fired' bullets fly a considerable distance before
landing, and the seeds can lie dormant for up to two years while awaiting an incoming blood
supply, which stimulates it to begin its life cycle. Cultivated Narvika can live for up to seven
months given a sufficient blood supply. To supply the blood, all one needs to do is pour blood
into the earth around the plant once a week. The plant will absorb and store all the blood within
half an hour. Human blood used must be from humans with magical powers. Bloodlines do not
count, only the person's innate abilities.

Nikacima
Common Name: Nikacima
Location: The Nikacima is a rare plant found in North and South America. It lives in the tops of
trees in forests and rainforests.
Description: The Nikacima feeds an all types of animal blood with the exception of humans.
The leaves and flower blossoms of the plant are red. The darker the color of red the more blood
the plant has consumed.
Common Uses: Legend has it, that it can be utilized to make special blood replenishing potions.
This has yet to be confirmed and all methods have been lost.
Precautions: It is feared that the Nikacima is dying out because birds have learned that the
Nikacima is deadly. The Nikacima has also been known to feed on squirrels and small mammals
when they make the mistake of stepping onto the blossom. No one has ever seen the actual
swallowing of the Nikacimas prey. Very few Nikacima are grown in captivity because they are
so hard to find. If more could be grown in captivity and studied new was of consuming food
could be found. It is thought by some that if a spell were to be placed on the pedals to change
their color the Nikacimas prey would not recognize it and they would be able to reproduce into
greater numbers.
Care: The Nikacima feeds on mostly birds. Being high up in the canopy of the rainforests birds
are easy to catch. The birds are attracted to the blossoms of the Nikacima. On the pedals of the
blossoms are small dots that range in color from black to bright yellow. The birds are fooled by
the dots thinking that they are insects. When the birds step into the center of the blossom the
pedals close and the flower blossom swallows the bird. Every time the Nikacima swallows its
prey the blossom grows. The darker the color of red on the pedals of the flower the more blood
the blossom has consumed. Not all of the blossoms on one Nikacima plant are the same color;
because they do not all consume the same amount of blood. The darker the color of the pedals
the lighter the dot on the pedal is. The lighter the color of the pedals the darker the color of the
dot. This high contrast is what makes the dots stand out to birds. The Nikacima reproduces in a
very strange but practical way. When a blossom reaches a certain size it breaks away from its
main vine. The blossom grows its own vines and moves away from its original vine.

Part 4: O Z
Rodentia
Common Name: Rodentia
Location: The Rodentia is a rare and interesting plant native North America. It thrives off of the
large rat population and lives in the moist walls of dank sewers.
Description: Anywhere between 10 and 20 tendrils extend into the crumbling brick, securing the
plant in place while a wide flat black appendage, which looks much like a leaf but has very fine
sensitive hairs on it, spreads out on the sewer floor.
Common Uses: These plants, though they seem to cause a cruel death to innocent rats, can be
very helpful in determining the blood type of humans once their tastes are identified. If the
subject strokes the leaf it will begin to curl if the blood type is correct. This must be done quickly
however, as the plant has a strong grip.
Precautions: The plants, at all cost, must not be exposed to sunlight. This will kill it
immediately, and in some cases they have been known to swell and explode violently.
Care: When a rat (the meal of choice) steps on the hairs they are able, through an ingrained
magical ability, to tell the blood type of the rodent. Rodentia can survive only off a specific blood
type, depending on the variety. Different plants have adopted for different blood types and so
there are Rodentia O, A, B and AB. Once the plant identifies its victims blood type, it either lets
it move on or ensnares it. The leaf is fairly large and so when it detects valid prey it curls around
it and some of the tendrils from the wall sneak out and begin extracting the blood. When it is
satiated the leaf uncurls and then creates a wave like motion that shuffles the carcass off to the
side. A highly complex plant, some consider that it might even contain some sentience. This
plant can be grown in greenhouse conditions provided it is nice and dark and it has a healthy
supply of proper rodents. If rodents are not available similar sized creatures will do. The plant
only requires one rat per day; however, this is based off of New York sewer rats, which they
particularly thrive on.

Scruddlynape
Common Name: Scruddlynape (Occaeco)
Location: The Occaeco is found in the dry, hot climate of the deserts of Africa. It's found
growing in sandy soils and can survive on less than an inch of water a year. It has almost no
natural enemies as it is invisible and thus common creatures are not able to eat it.
Description: The Scruddlynape is a dark green when it is visible, but due to the fact that, as it
appears, it seems to change from a yellow hue, there is much debate on if the plant is not, in fact,
yellow when invisible. However, what is known, when the plant is visible, is that the leaves are
dark green and rubbery; this helps the plant to keep the water that it so sparingly soaks up. The
roots of the plant, unlike the portion above ground, are not invisible; they are a dark brown in
color. Four times a year the Scruddlynape blooms. The flowers are a brilliant blue color and,
once every ten hours, they spray a mist into the air. This is both how they pollinate and how they
attract the Colinnade Fly; this particular fly is essential to the health of the plant as, during the
pollination of the plant, the fly can find the plant, and land upon it's leaves and eats holes into the
rubbery plant. These holes allow for contaminants to be expelled from the plant allowing for it to
grow all the healthier.
Common uses: Plant fibers are used in the process of making Invisibility Cloaks; pollen is used
in Blood-Replenishing Potion; roots used in Wit-Sharpening Potion.
Precautions: Care should be used when collecting the pollen of the Scruddlynape. When inhaled
it can temporarily paralyze a mammal.
Care: This plant requires a well pebbled sand when kept in captivity and it is imperative that the
grower either get access to Collinade Flies during the pollination months or, using a bubble head
charm, to poke holds into the leaves of the plant in order to allow the plant to release it's toxins.
As the plant is invisible, the grower will need to use a very particular freezing charm in order to
make the plant visible. The use of 'gelidus' is the suggested charm, as it does not harm the plant.
The charm will wear off itself in twenty minutes time. This plant must be kept in a warm and dry
climate - the use of charms to create a barrier for this plant is well advised.

Whomping Willow
Common Name: Whomping Willow
Location: No known habitat. It is created using various charms and modified plant-life.
Description: The tree looks similar to a modern Weeping Willow, except its branches point up.
When agitated, the tree will swing its limbs around bashing anything within reach.
Common Uses: Security, a spectacular version is used to protect portions of the grounds at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Whomping Willow was the brainchild of a
nineteenth century witch named Hilda Genrousa. She succeeded in growing a sapling with long,
vine-like branches with a fluidity of motion when the wind blew. She then set her sights on
charms, using a motion granting charm, which allowed the tree to move when exposed to outside
stimuli. She then used an anger potion to give it its famed temper and violent reactions. Finally,
she put a calming charm on one knot on the tree, so it could be calmed.
Precautions: The Whomping Willow also needs weekly therapy sessions, as its violent nature
leads it to have pangs of guilt and issues accepting its reality. It hates its creator for mutilating it
thus, and sometimes at night, it weeps, thus resembling its close cousin.
Care: The tree must be fed weekly using a compound of ground bark from other trees mixed
with the water from a running stream. To calm it for extended periods, one must fool the tree into
thinking no one is around by placing a mirror in front of the enchanted knot.

Xenodragon
Common Name: Xenodragon
Location: Along beaches, usually within 20 or so feet of water.
Description: The Xenodragon plant is a large, vine plant with fingerlike tentacles. It is deep
purple in color, and is covered in fine silver hairs.
Common Uses: When the silver hairs are plucked they can be used in a potion to make bottled
bravery.
Precautions: When threatened, the xenodragon rears up, its thick vines sticking straight out,
taking up as much room as possible. It is generally an aggressive plant, but not overtly violent.
Care: When exposed to dragon dung, the plant immediately swells and turns a bright, sickly
yellow color. Its vines become limp and puss-filled. The plant takes on a generally lack-luster
attitude, and mops around in its pot. It stays low to the ground, and when attacked, it merely
flops about. After prolonged exposure, its silver hairs fall out, and never re-grow. Recovery time

after ending exposure is about 3.5 months, although exposure longer than one week is usually
fatal.

Part 5: Appendix
Section I: One the Merits of Dragon Dung compost
Dragons, being creatures of fire, have natural, controlled fires burning within them to
generate heat and aiding their food digestion. Due to the intense heat within a dragon's digestive
tract, any dung that passes out of the dragon would have been distilled and concentrated several
times over, making the concentration of vital elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur
many times higher. Sulfur concentration is particularly high in dragon dung, as evidenced by its
particularly putrid smell when first excreted.
Dragon dung also contains various magical elements as a result of its own magical inner
fire and its ingestion of magical creatures. One of the magical properties of dragon dung is a
vitriol-like corrosive effect, although tests by Muggle methods show that it is chemically neutral.
Another appears to be a chemical amplifier, which greatly increases the effect of the dung as a
fertilizer. The massive amount of heat that the dung absorbs helps the plants grow at a more rapid
rate. Plants flourish in sunlight because they absorb the heat from the suns' rays, thereby
warming them up enough to carry out Photosynthesis. The dung acts as a plant's personal Sun.
The heat that it absorbs in the fire lizard's stomach is radiated outward, thereby warming the
plant up considerably. This allows the plant to carry out photosynthesis day and night, thereby
enabling it to grow faster. There are several more magical properties in dragon dung, however
the effects of those properties are either extremely marginal or only specific to certain plants.
The act of composting dragon dung would decrease slightly its concentration as bacteria
decompose the dung. The overall percentage of sulfur concentration is reduced, removing the
odor and making it suitable for plants. Generally, a fortnight or longer is required for full
composting. However, the dragon's 'inner fire' in the dung will burn out after several weeks
(between 5-8 weeks, depending on the dragon species), after which the dung becomes like any
other regular dung compost fertilizer. Over composting is therefore not recommended.
For a short duration after fertilizing the plant with dragon dung compost, a plant will be
able to draw nutrients and undergo cell division at a rate immeasurable by Muggles. However,
some plants have adverse reactions to the dung's corrosive nature, and in turn begin producing
corrosive, toxic, flammable or otherwise harmful substances. Caution should therefore be
exercised when choosing dragon dung compost fertilizer for any particular plant. Non-magical
fertilizers such as cow or sheep dung composts can, of course, be used freely. On a footnote, if
one should sue pure un-composted dragon dung as a fertilizer, its intense chemical concentration
will immediately engulf the entire plant in flames. Reports have also been heard of plants
mutating into toxic spore-emitting trees only destructible by dragon fire.