| Abraxan
Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Perth, AU (GMT +8)
Posts: 25,070
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Jasper Hart
First Year
  x10  x10
|  ½ EagleBrain ♥ Creeperdoodle ♥ Raven Dor ♥ Berry ♥ ½ Team House Elf
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poolicious  They're going to enter the greenhouse? Finally. Warm place.
She entered the greenhouse along with her classmate and saw Kyroh started to bounce. He probably had some kind of springs installed under his shoes. Or he ate too many sugars.
They're so many plants inside the greenhouse and they're so very pretty. Too bad they can't touch them. She saw Bentley stopped in front of two bushes. Yeah she didn't know what kinda of plants they're but that didn't stop her from raising her hand "Poison berry?" The kind of berry that when you eat them you die in a minutes? And why she thought that? "The two bushes didn't look intimidating like the other plants so they must be very deadly. If they're not deadly you wouldn't put them here with the fanged plant." Sounds good?
Then she heard the Professor said that the first plant was Weigela. Not poison berry then? Flesh eating plant. Yikes. Pretty yet dangerous. And she still didn't had any idea about the name of the second plant even after Professor Bentley gave them a hint. Poison berry? "Mmmmm no..." Seren replied, overlooking the fact that they had already established neither of the berries were in fact poisonous. It would be a sad excuse of a poisonous berry bush if that was the case. "I like your reasoning though." Quote:
Originally Posted by lazykitty Layla was still here and paying attention, yep. She was just listening, observing and hoping for hints thinking. The two plants looked pretty much the same to her. But apparently, they were completely different. See, this was why she wasn't very good at this class. Being able to tell plants apart was important and she just didn't have that skill, unless it was two things that were obvious, like orange and apple trees.
But that last hint really got her wheels a turning. She had an aunt in New England that had plants like this in her garden. If she remembered correctly, her aunt had said they were native plants. Now what were they called again........?
"Winterberry?" Aaahhhhhh, not this was an interesting response. Seren produced a pouty face which indicated the she was impressed - to an extent. "Not a bad guess... and on a number of accounts, you're quite close, but no, it's not a Western Winterberry." Quote:
Originally Posted by Mordred Weigela. Noted.
Ethan scratched his head as he tried to guess the other one. This was hard. He's not American to start with, so guessing a bush that is native to the US was a challenge. Both aren't poisonous, so that means that their berries are edible.
Chokeberry. But then that answer was already given.
How about another answer? Ethan raised his hand. "Blueberry?" Heh. Who knows, yeah? "I shouldn't have mentioned that. Now I want some Blueberry Cheesecake after this class!" The Slytherin thought as he rubbed his stomach. Blue... blueberry? .... "Uuhhh... last I checked blueberries weren't remotely dangerous, perhaps you'd like to reconsider your answer?"
The berries were darker, yes, but certainly not blue. SPOILER!!: SUCCESS! Quote:
Originally Posted by feeheeheeny As soon as she worked it out in her head, Sophie knew she had been wrong, but when she heard that Mo's gander was right, she let out a quiet "mmmmm" of understanding. Yes, yes. That name rang a bell. Not a plant she had known her mother to tend to, but she recognized it from the textbook. So if these were both being covered together, they were probably from the same part of the textbook, yeah? Especially considering their extreme similarities, despite their native locations. United States, hm?
Sophie racked her brain - she hadn't peeked at her textbook since the end of the last term, unfortunately, but she knew she had read this particular section before. Details were faint, and she was certain she was mixing up certain things in her head already, but... a few names came to mind. She recalled a shrub that oozed a poisonous gas through its leaves, and tree-like one that had a mouth right on its trunk to eat things right up, and... a harmless-looking, sweet-smelling bush that was actually a menace and suffocated its prey, and was named accordingly. Which, from what she could tell, resembled pretty well what they were looking at.
"Um," Sophie said, her hand back in the air for another guess. "There's the one..." She wanted to explain her guess and why, but how could she word it without making the innocent first years look at all panicked? The plant was virtually harmless to them since they were so much bigger than it, if she was correct, but she still wanted to explain the name as she said it... but maybe she'd just throw the name out there and see if she was right, first and foremost. "The Chokeberry?" Could it be? Quote:
Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88 Cris breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he had at least managed to guess what the first plant was...the one with the serrated leaves. However, the Professor was still hoping that someone would be able to identify the second plant. Native to America? That narrowed down the possibilities.
Hazarding a guess, he raised his hand. "Professor could the other plant" Cris gestured to the one next to Weigela,"be the Chokeberry Bush?
It does have the dark colored berries that appear on the plant during fall and it's native to North America. It's also a predator and has the same pink and white colored flowers, just like the Weigela does, before both shed their flowers and produce berries." Eyebrows arched, and holding her breath, Seren waited for Sophie to overcome her short pause... and YESSSSS! Finally, they got there. "That's absolutely correct!" she sang brightly, clapping he hands together in delight. The may have been some rustling leaves coming from the corner at the sound, but she wasn't the least bit concerned by the disturbance.
Of course, true to form -- or so it seemed... Cris also had input with this solution as well. "You're quite right," she nodded, acknowledging his response."
So... was everyone taking note of this? Weigela and Chokeberry... ahem.
Either way, now that they knew what they were looking at, they could get some learning into them. "Though they bear many similarities, these two bushes have a number of contrasts also. They are both deciduous, both bear red berries after flowering through spring and summer and both grow no greater than five meters in height... though there are known to be exceptions from time to time." But more to the point.. they were both flesh eaters. "The berries on these bushes serve two purposes, the first, reproduction, the second... luring in a feed. The sweet scent and enticing colours of the berries bring small creatures within striking distance of these plants, and while small creatures are their primary staple, they won't mind taking a chunk out of you... given the chance."
And onto their primary objecive for the lesson. The fun part. So to speak... or at least, it was a start, the fun was yet to come. "Though they are rather mild mannered when compared with a number of the other flesh eaters we study, the Ministry of Magic has still rated them a six using the PCC, otherwise known as the Plant Classification Code. This means that they are useful but considered dangerous, though it doesn't prohibit people from owning and keeping such bushes and they are largely unregulated..." Pretty cool right? They could technically grow these at home... depending on where home was, and how many enchantments they had in place to deter muggles. "Keeping this in mind, can anyone hazard a guess what kind of care requirements we might need to provide for such specimens?" OOC: The lesson will continue in approx 18 hours. Please only provide ONE example of care for such plants.
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