Lesson Four

Dangerous Plants

Lesson Objectives

•  For students to gain an understanding of the purposes for Mandrakes, Devil’s Snare, and Bubotuber
• For students to learn about historic ways of handling Herbology
• To show students how to properly handle dangerous situations involving these three plants
• For students to feel comfortable holding intellectual conversations surrounding the plants covered in today’s lesson

The Mandrake (Mandragora): 

1. Habitat: European Countries. It grows well around places where men have been hung.  
2. Physical Appearance: Shaped like a parsnip, with wrinkled roots in shape of a being. It grows above ground, from between five centimetres to forty centimetres, slightly resembling a tobacco plant. 
3. Food: U/N 
4. Care: When uprooting a Mandrake, one should always wear earmuffs, and dragon-hide gloves, and use medium to heavy soil. The concentration of water should be equal to 3/4ths of the plants approximate weight.
5. Usage: This plant is used in sleeping potions, love potions, and potions to revive a petrified person. 
6. Propreties: This plant causes hallucinations, comas, and puts people into dreamlike states.They also have the ability to cause death with their screams. 
7. First Aid: If a person slips into a coma from contact with a mandrake, wash the spot of contact and immediately send for a trained healer to administer a tandisu injection.

Devil's Snare (Dassin sanate):

1. Habitat: Native to Scottish highlands and lowlands, but it will grow it all areas dark and damp, such as caves. 
2. Physical Appearance: This plant has swaying plant tendrils, vidid green. 
3. Food: U/N
4. Care: U/N
5. Propreties: This plant attacks when one's back is turned, asleep, or already in its grasp, using strangulation. One should use Incendio against it.  
6. Usage: To protect, distract, guard and assassinate
7. First Aid: In an emergency situation, treat the person for strangulation and suffocation. Rennervate, a reviving spell, may be useful, or Anapneo if they ended up choking on their own tongue.

Bubotuber:

1. Habitat: This plant is native to Scotland 
2. Physical Appearance: Resembles a giant black slug, releasing gas-scented yellow pus when squeezed 
3. Food: 
4. Care: A Bubotuber must be planted in dark, nutrient-rich soil, with little sunlight and lots of Dragon dung fertilizer. Warm weather is not necessary. 
5. Propreties: Undiluted Bubotuber pus causes rashes and burns on contact. Muggles classify it as corrosive
6. Usage: The pus of this plant is known to treat acne, but it must first be diluted in Gillywater  
7. First Aid: Cleanse wound for five minutes under clean cold water, before applying dittany. It is recommended that one also take a potion for the pain.