Magical and Mundane Plants - A Wizard's (and Witche's) Guide

written by Katherine Lutz

This book will guide you through all that you need to know in your primary years at Hogwarts in the subject Herbology. Enjoy!!

Last Updated

05/31/21

Chapters

106

Reads

2,333

VOCABULARY

Chapter 93

Amphiphyte: an aquatic plant that is capable of surviving on land too

Elodeid: a water plant in which the whole plant is submerged under the water except for its flower

Helophyte: an aquatic plant which has roots in the bottom of the water source, which has leaves that reach above the waterline

Nymphaeid: a water plant which has roots in the bottom of the water source, which has leaves that float on the surface of the water

Pleuston: an aquatic plant that floats freely on the water

FUN FACTS -
I would like to give you some fun facts on the word Herbology. Did you know, Muggles have no written record of this word before 1891? Also, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) considers it to be a chiefly American word! The OED did not even have an entry for the Herbology before March of 2004. Can you imagine? Those Muggles have no idea of the great and historic Herbology traditions in Britain, nor, of course, are they aware that the class has been taught for well over a thousand years at Hogwarts! One interesting fact the OED is aware of, is the difference between American and British pronunciation of Herbology. We British folk pronounce it /həːˈbɒlədʒi/ while Americans say /(h)ərˈbɑlədʒi/.


A rather peculiar connection to Islam occurs in the OED’s entry for Herbology. Remember that I said the first muggle written evidence of the word Herbology was from 1891? Well, it occurred in S. Ameer Ali’s book Life & Teachings Mohammed xviii. 569 where it says “The Moslems… enriched the existing pharmacopæia by innumerable and invaluable additions... They…augmented the herbology of the Greeks by the addition of two thousand plants.” One thing you may want to remember is that Muggles did not have as much information on plants as Wizards did, so it was very impressive for Muggles to have gained information about 2000 non-magical plants. None of those plants hadn’t already been explored by magic folk though.


While Muggles missed out on Herbology, they were very aware of the word plant, which has been in the English language since Old English! Funny enough, the first quotation available is related to Catholicism! (Plants and religion relate even outside of the obvious ancient traditions, eh?) The quotation is from the Vespasian Psalter where it says “ðeara bearn swe swe niowe plant steaðelunge gesteaðulfestad from guguðe his.” No, I do not expect any of you to understand the Old English. However, I would like to impress upon you just how old a word plant is… it is included in the earliest one percent of entries recorded in the OED.
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