Herbology: Muggle Plants in Harry Potter
- In This Quick Guide:
- Aconite
- Asphodel
- Belladonna
- Daisy
- Fluxweed
- Ginger
- Hellebore
- Knotgrass
- Lovage
- Mallowsweet
- Mandrake
- Nettle
- Scurvy-grass
- Sneezewort
- Valerian
- Wormwood
Herbology is the study of plants and is taught at all good wizarding schools. Herbs have, in fact, been a key component of a healer’s toolbox for millennia, dating back beyond ancient Greece and Rome. Many of today’s Muggle pharmaceuticals still use herbs and plants as their base. This guide gives you an overview of the primary herbs and plants that exist in the wizarding world. First you’ll find out what we know about each plant or herb in the nonwizarding world, including its botanical name, characteristics, and medicinal uses (if any). That’s followed by a brief look at how each herb or plant is used in the wizarding world.
Aconite
Class: Aconitum genus of the buttercup family.
Description: Aconite is considered highly poisonous. Tiny amounts can slow down the heart and lungs for medical purposes, but larger amounts can be toxic. It is also known as monkshood and wolfsbane.
Wizardly uses: A variety of potions
Asphodel
Class: Ashodeline genus of the lily family.
Description: Asphodel looks like a lily, with white or yellow flowers and narrow green leaves. It has long been known as the flower of death; in fact, it is thought to be the flower that the dead like the most. For this reason, asphodel used to be planted in and around tombs.
Wizardly uses: The Draught of Living Death
Belladonna
Botanical name: Atropa belladonna
Class: Nightshade family
Description: A highly poisonous plant with purple or red flowers and black berries, Belladonna goes by several names, most of which have “deadly” or “devil” in the title. Atropa is derived from Atropos, one of the Greek Fates, and belladonna is translated as “beautiful woman.”
Long used as a way to poison unsuspecting rivals, in tiny amounts it has also been used to combat migraines, lower heart rate, and relax bronchial and urinary muscles. Venetian women once used belladonna to dilate their pupils, which was supposed to make them more beautiful.
Wizardly uses: Belladonna is used so often in wizarding potions that it is part of the potion-making kit purchased by all Hogwarts Potions students.
Daisy
Botanical name: Chrysanthemum leucanthemum
Description: The daisy is so common, with its white flowers and yellow center, that it is sometimes considered a weed among Muggles. An old wives’ tale says that daisy roots, boiled in milk and fed to a farm animal, can stop the animal from growing too large.
Wizardly uses: Daisy root is used in Shrinking Solutions.
Fluxweed
Botanical name: Isanthus brachiatus
Class: Mint family
Description: Fluxweed is also called false pennyroyal.
Note that “flux,” from the Latin fluxus, means “flow.” In physics, flux is the rate of flow of energy across a surface.
Wizardly uses: A key ingredient in the Polyjuice Potion
Ginger
Botanical name: Zingiber officinale
Description: Ginger is an herb that’s used both as a spice and as a medicinal plant. It is known to clam the digestive system, which is why ginger tea and ginger ale are given to people with upset stomachs.
Wizardly uses: Used in Wit-Sharpening Potions
Hellebore
Class: Both the Helleborus genus of the buttercup family and the Veratrum genus of the lily family
Description: Also call Christherb because it flowers near Christmas, hellebore is highly poisonous, either killing or causing severe burning to the skin if handled and to the intestines if ingested. Tiny amounts, however, can stimulate the heart, and people have historically blessed their farm animals with hellebore.
Wizardly uses: The syrup from the hellebore plant is used in the Draught of Peace.
Knotgrass
Class: Polygonum genus of the buckwheat family
Description: A common weed or grass with thin stems and leaves and small flowers. Like daisy roots boiled in milk, knotgrass is thought to limit the growth of animals. Shakespeare mentions knotgrass in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Wizardly uses: Polyjuice Potion (likely how the potion got its name)
Lovage
Botanical name: Levisticum officinale
Class: Umbel family
Description: It has long been a home remedy, often in the form of a medicinal tea.
Wizardly uses: Confusing and Befuddlement Draught
Mallowsweet
Description: The mallow is a family of plants with large flowers that bloom on a large stalk or tube; hollyhock is a good example. Mallowsweet is not a recognized variety in the Muggle world, but would likely come from that same family, perhaps as a sweet-tasting variety.
Wizardly uses: Centaurs burn mallowsweet and sage, and receive divine wisdom from the shapes of the flames and smoke.
Mandrake
Botanical name: Mandragora officinarum
Class: Nightshade family
Description: A small, round, purple plant that’s essential to potion-making, especially antidotes. This plant has historically been thought to have magical qualities, because its roots look somewhat human.
Wizardly uses: Returns a person to his or her human state—if a curse or transfiguration-gone-wrong has trapped the person in a nonhuman body or if the person has been petrified.
Nettle
Class: Urtica genus of the nettle family
Description: A stingy, spiny, thorny plant used in teas and soups to help with digestive disorders. In the Muggle world, especially in Britain, drinking nettle tea is used a treatment for boils. The herb called blind nettle (which is actually a mint, not a nettle) has also traditionally been used to treat boils.
Wizardly uses: A cure for boils
Scurvy-grass
Botanical name: Cochlearia officianli
Description: Also called scurvy weed. A northern plant from the crucifer family that was traditionally used to treat scurvy, which was common among those traveling long distances by ship, when no fresh fruits and vegetables were available.
Wizardly uses: Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts
Sneezewort
Botanical name: Achillea ptarmica
Description: Sneezewort is a kind of yarrow, which causes sneezing in many people.
Wizardly uses: Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts
Valerian
Botanical name: Aleriana officinalis
Description: Valerian is derived from the Latin valere, meaning “to be healthy.” It is also known as garden heliotrope and tobacco root and has for centuries been used as a sleep aid.
Wizardly uses: Draught of Living Death
Wormwood
Botanical name: Artemisia judaica
Class: Aster family
Wormwood is a shrub, the oil of which was used to make absinthe. It is lethal in large quantities, but it can be taken in small amounts. Found in Palestine, the wormwood plant appears often in the Bible, serving as a metaphor for sadness in several portions of the Old Testament. The New Testament references the plant in conjunction with God’s punishment of the Israelites.
Wizardly uses: Draught of Living Death
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World of Harry Potter by Tere Stouffer
