A Plant Lover’s Guide to Harry Potter Herbology
Now, I don’t want anyone reading this here to be disagreeing with me when I say that Harry Potter works because it has something for everyone. It includes action, adventure, friendship, magic, interesting foods, and wonderfully curious magical trinkets and plants. The Harry Potter world has been captivating people of all ages since J.K. Rowling first published the books. Furthermore, plants and growing plants has been a trend for the past few years. These days anyone with or without a green thumb can appreciate the addition of plants to a space.
What’s so captivating about Harry Potter is the fabulous array of magical objects and plants. The series includes both peoples’ love for plants and herbology as well as magic. Lets jump straight in with what herbology even is.
Herbology is the study and collection of herbs and plants especially as a hobby.
Anyone who’s read or watched the Harry Potter movies knows that plants play a charming role in the series. The truly fun part is how many of these magical plants that we know and love are actually based on real plants (of the muggle world).
Mandrake
You might remember when readers were first introduced to the Mandrake. This is a plant that has a root that looks like a grotesque baby and when unearthed releases a scream that is horrid enough to kill anyone who hears it. J.K. Rowling used the idea from a plant called the Mandrake that grows in arid areas around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Ancient mythology of the plant suggests that the plant could emit a shrill scream that could drive people mad (“The Plant That Can Kill and Cure). The Mandrake plant is actually quite toxic as it is from the nightshade family.
Devils Snare
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Ron, Harry, and Hermione get caught in a dark vine-like plant that’s limbs wrap around its prey and suffocate them to death. While real life Devils Snare won’t suffocate you, the plant is covered in spines and is part of the nightshade family which means it can kill you if ingested. Plus, its official name is Datura stramonium which certainly sounds like something right out of the wizarding world.
Wolfsbane
Wolfsbane is one of the primary ingredients used in Professor Lupine’s nightly potion. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban showed us what happens if a lycanthrope doesn’t take his potion. All jokes aside Wolfsbane is actually a real flowering plant called Aconitum. Wolfsbane is referenced in other folklore and Greek mythology as a defense against werewolves. Like everything else we have discussed so far, consuming this plant can be fatal.
Wormwood
“What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?” Snape asks.
Wormwood is a plant referenced in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by Professor Snape. In the wizarding world it can be used for healing potions as well as elixirs of death. Wormwood in real life is an herb that’s used to treat gastrointestinal issues and is also found in some liquors such as Vermouth.
To take this one step further I’d like to mention a hidden message behind this quote in the series. Apparently Asphodel is a type of Lily which means ‘my regrets follow you to the grave’ and Wormwood means ‘absence’ and references bitter sorrow (Marie Claire). Which might mean that Snape is trying to say that he bitterly regrets Lily’s death. Furthermore, according to Snape, the combination produces a drought of living death. So maybe he’s also saying life without Lily is like a living death.
If you’re like me and this kind of thing is interesting to you go take this BuzzFeed quiz after reading my article! Harry Potter nerds only! How Well Do You Actually Know Harry Potter?
Works Cited
Marie Claire December 15, and Marie Claire. “The Real Meaning behind Snape’s First Words to Harry Changes Everything.” Marie Claire, 17 Dec. 2018, www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/this-is-the-real-meaning-behind-snape-s-first-words-to-harry-potter-253264.
“The Plant That Can Kill and Cure.” BBC News, BBC, 13 July 2015, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33506081.
