Herbology Lesson 5
In today's lesson we reviewed 4 non-magical plants:

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
Valerian can grow to 5 ft. with tiny white pinkish flowers. It loves the sun, and prefers at least 7 hours of sunlight per day. It requires acidic soil (between 4,5 and 5.0). The seed needs to be burried an 8th of an inch in the earth.

The roots and springs of valerian have different magical properties.
The roots should be harvested in the fall or spring and have sedative powers (meaning they make you sleepy). They are good in calming draughts and sleeping potions.

The springs can be harvested at any time. The sprigs are also slightly sedative, with the addition that cats love the flowers, but dogs hate it.

Valerian can also help with poor eyesight, epilepsy (although the research is still very new) and heartproblems.

Lily's
There are many different types of lilies and plants that are called a lily, but actually aren't. Lilies require 5-6 hours of sunlight and soil with a ph balance between 5.5 and 6.5. The bulbs must be planted 4 to 8 inches in the ground, and must be water every 3 days (if there hasn't been rain).
The properties of lilies:
The roots of some lilies can be used in a paste to treat burns, and the flower can be used to regulate heart problems. Lilies are also used in potions for their pleasent scent. Lilies react positively to magic, which can help growth of the plant.

Warning: Lilies are poisonous.

Asphodel
Asphodel needs to be planted in an area with partial sun in neutral soil. A ph value of 6-6,5 is preferable, but the plant can also trive in soil with a higher ph value, because mediteranian soil is slightly alkaline (alkalinity is water's ability to neutralize acid), and asphodel is native to the mediteranian.
Asphodel only needs to be watered when the soil is visibly dry and needs a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot (so that the excess water can drip away).

Asphodels properties:
Mostly the roots have special properties. They can be used in a sticking potion and strong sleeping potions (like the draught of the living dead). There are still magical properties being discovered, mainly by the herbologist Ocamier Flinson. Flinson found that asphodel can also be used in (controversal) skil-lighting potions and can be used to help regrow skin (but only the first shoots of the plant).

Knotgrass (polygonum aviculare):
Knotgrass is a type of weed and can grow in many different types of soil and sunlight. The best soil to plant it in, however, is neutral, and the plant must get about 3 hours of sunlight. The plant needs a lot of water, so you can water it every single day (as long as the soil still absorbs the water). 

Knotgrass's properties:

Knotgrass is used in polyjuice potions, shotening solutions and de-ageing potions. It also used to be an ingredient in love and fertility potions until a more effective replacement was found. Knotgrass is seen as a symbol for the unification of two people, and was commonly used in weddings (decoration, knotgrass mead). 

The Growth-starting charm:

This charm was created by calla Evora in the 1900s, who needed her flowers to bloom within a short period of time to win a competition. The spell makes the plant grow a little bit, but the effect is not instantaneous. It's best not to use it a lot. If you use too much willpower, the plant will grow too fast and exhaust it's resources and die. If you do use the spell, you will have to take extra good care of the plant. Because of the excellerated growth, the plant may need more watering, pruning and fertilizing than usual.
The spell is best used on plants that grow from bulbs (like the amaryllis from the story), because those store resources in them and can handle a sudden grow spurt better.

The incantation for the spell is: Virenesco
Wandmovement: Whirlpool motion then flick to pull up
Willpower: low
concentration: low