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BanaBatGirl · 06-17-2015, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

She didn't REALLY want to stand up and touch the plant, but she would. Slipping on her gloves, she approached the plant and just let a finger swipe over the leaves...and the flower...and then the potato-like part..."Well, aren't they related to potatoes? It kinda' feels similar." She said. She thought she'd read that somewhere...in the vast, vast Herbology universe of knowledge...most of which Eden didn't possess, but she TRIED.

"They are related!" Bunz almost sounded pleased with Eden's common sense answer. "I believe they are of the same family, if we're doing scientific classifications." And they weren't, not for this lesson, but there was no harm in going deeper into the material if the students were curious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel had been totally in awe of the plant that she had forgotten to answer the first question at first. She raised her hand and smiled. "They are supposed to be very rare right?" Angel was sure that was true, she hadn't seen them that much around.

Angel then listened to the professor again and put on her dragon hives gloves, she loved this lesson and so she was totally going to touch the plant, she had to if she wanted to go exploring.

Angel raised her hand after she had touched one. "Professor, aren't they supposed too be tufty and they are purplish green in colour." Angel wasn't sure about the colour but well she decided that she was going to guess, she wanted to get on with the activity, saying that she would have to see the head about exploring, since that is what she wanted to do when she was older, she wondered if the head had an advice on it.

"I don't know if I would say 'very' rare... uncommon might be a better word, depending on your region." And was Angel talking about magical or mundane mandrakes? The Headmistress nodded to her next answer and added it to the board. "Correct. Purple, tufty, greenish in color... I even think some of the leaves look like a variety of kale, but hairy on the edges usually instead of smooth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

"Um...they are perenials...with um branched roots and...5-petaled flowers."

"How do you know they're perennials just from looking at them?" the Headmistress probed the Gryffindor. Hmm? Hmm? "Correct on that description, very good." Adding that to the chalkboard...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Beverly squinted her eyes at the plants on the cart in thought. The roots is what gave it away to the Slytherin. Had she only seen the leaves then her guess list was as long as Merlin's beard.

Raising her hand, Beverly straightened her posture absently. "A mandrake. They are used for various health conditions." Colic, pain, ulcers. Health stuff.

Touching stuff was happening. Reaching into her bag, Beverly took out her dragon hide gloves and slipped them on.

"Correct." Oh that was already on the board though, more or less.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Anyway, right, so... physical characteristics. And an offer to get up and go have a look? Toby hesitated for a moment, though he wasn't sure WHY, and put up his hand first. He REMEMBERED now that stuff had already been SAID. Typical. "Well, the roots, they're all twisted, right? It's actually a thing where, well... y'know with magical mandrakes the roots as basically sort of... humanoid? And scream and all that. Mundane mandrake roots can sometimes sort of look like human bodies too, but it's usually more to do with that's just how they grow. They don't scream or cry or anything like that." Sooooo yeah. That was a thing. "I'm not sure if it's just coincidentally how they grow or maybe if like, a magical mandrake is just a more developed mundane one or something, but I think it's pretty cool."

Okay. He was gonna go say hello to the plants, even though he'd already answered. Toby had his gloves with him (small miracles; he often left them in his dorm on the days he actually needed them), and so pulled them on before heading over to the cart with the mundane mandrakes, and carefully picking one up to take a better look.

"Excellent. Excellent, Toby, I like where you're going with this." Bunz pointed at him, which made her chalk point to, and then gestured back to the board so it would write down his contribution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Kate stared at the mandrakes as she fished her dragonhide gloves out her bag and put them on. Did Kate want to come touch the plant? No, not right now. Her mind was racing with something different she could throw out there. She tried to remember what had been said so far, but there was so much information that she wasn't sure what would be new and what had been said.

Meh. She raised her hand into the air. "The roots branch out to resemble little human-like forms," she said, eyeing the mandrake as she spoke. "Both mundane and magical, right?" She was kind of nervous to speak up, especially when she wasn't sure of her answer. This was the HEADMISTRESS right here, people!

"Yes, very good, Kate. We'll take a look at the magical mandrakes here in a moment."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saraie

Oh the lesson was starting. Awesome! Now she got to see what was under the sheet on the cart. semi-dangerous plants? How come she liked the sound of that? hehe. She wrote down what Truebrigde had said about Herbology and being deadly if you were ignorant all of that stuff. Anyway... MANDRAKES! That's what was under the sheet. She sat up a bit straighter in her seat it see better. "Those are Mandrakes, They are a root. used for restoring things back ton their original state."

They could touch it! Fun. She fumbled around for her drangonhind gloves, She wanted to touch it. "Some call it “devil’s candle” because it resembles a flickering flame." She gave a little nod after she was finished with her in put on the subject. Finallly she found her gloves and put them on. She was ready to touch the Mandrakes.

"Very good..." And as for her second answer? Hmm. The Headmistress tilted her head. "I haven't heard it called that before. Do you think it resembles a flame?" Did she really, because nothing about the roots or flowers screamed fire to her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Zander did put on his gloves as recommended, but he didn't get up to go pet the plant, deciding that mean having to get real close to the Headmistress. Keeping a safe distance was probably best. You know, maybe she forgot about the whole incident last year? Zander was hopeful. He did decide to raise his hand this time around though, just so she knew he was still paying attention. "Well, they have got fruit , berries that are kind of globe shaped," that counted as a physical description, right? He motioned his hands to replicate the globe shape as he spoke, "But they only really start fruiting in the autumn," of course the berries stick around for a while after. But you know, details.

Gryffindors just weren't cut out for Herbology, in this redhead's opinion. Just look at this one, giving her weird looks like she was speaking English. Hello, Mr. Adair, wake up! Finally he was contributing something. "Very good," she added that to the board. Useful to know. "And these are berries you probably should not eat, by the way, because if you're not careful, they could get you in trouble...." Oh, trouble, what about trouble? Had she forgotten all the trouble Zander caused last year? Hmm?

Nope, never.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

"Do the properties of the plant change drastically depending on what species of Mandragora it is? As there are....five different types, if I recall right."

"I wouldn't say the properties change drastically, no, but you are correct that there are five different mundane varieties. The berries are probably the most noticeable different physical attribute from variety to variety." Great question though, Gabe. It was nice to work with students who seemed to enjoy herbology...

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

"I was saying that the pretty flowers are used---"

A light bulb went off. Oh. Erm. Well, this was awkward. The headmistress professor ma'am didn't actually want her to "come again." Fine. It was her loss really. Where she had read it was anybody's guess. AJ didn't normally pay attention to details. "Witch weekly, I think." She didn't know what kind of magazine it was at first, okay?

Touching the mandrake was going to happen. AJ slipped on her gloves and walked toward the plant. Squeeze. Squeeze. Yup, Eden was right. It was a potato or related to one at the very least as she had commented. "Feels kind of wrinkly to me. Maybe it needs some water." What was the question again?

Witch Weekly? Really? And she thought that was credib--- never mind, hah, maybe this girl knew more about Muggles than the Headmistress did. ~~It wasn't hard to know more about Muggles.~~ "Anyway..." she found herself saying aloud. "They don't need water, these all need new pots." See how the mundane mandrakes were just sitting out, with their roots all exposed? Poor babies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"I'm going to touch the thingy with my eyeballs, please, Professor Ma'am." Dot did wear her gloves, at least, but mostly because she thought they looked kind of fabulous, and she hung back and made a show of LOOKING at the plant. "It has a big root, so I bet it's tricky to repot. And probably fussy about the kind of dirt it likes." On account of the alkaloid, yucky poison of it.

"Please don't literally touch it to your eyeballs, Miss Wojack." The Headmistress almost spared a smile for her, but didn't. "It's not as tricky or as fussy as the magical variety, actually." But wouldn't she like to find out? The Headmistress beckoned her closer. Come come, don't be a shy dot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104

Marigold nodded along eagerly, anything to please Truebridge. So it wasn't ginger, but it was a mundane mandrake. Okay. She could handle that. She slipped gloves on and touched the plant tentatively. She wasn't quite sure what to say, so instead of an answer, she asked a question.

"What makes the roots look like that, like people? Because I know ginger does that too. Or is it just random roots, and humans thought they saw themselves there? Like constellations?"

"Yes." More or less, Marigold had answered her own question. "It's not like these roots are cursed to grow humanoid in appearance, although Muggles have a lot of superstition regarding the mandrake, most like because of its magical cousin." She let out a small laugh and added a note like that to the board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

Zhenya listened intently to everyone's answers and facts about the Mandrakes, making mental notes of their answers, as well as Professor Headmistress Truebridge's responses and comments.

But now Truebridge wanted them to describe it to the class. She commented "I always thought the leaves reminded me of spinach plants. You know, the big spinach, not the baby spinach leaves." But not so much in how the plant looked like something fat had sat on it and squished it. What else could she describe about the plant? Well, nothing really. Everyone was doing that, and a good job too. She noted the way everyone explained the characteristics of the plant and other useful or random facts. Zhenya thought that touching it would be okay, and she liked to get dirty. But gloves were a must, so she pulled her own dragon hide gloves out and put them on, walking forward to touch it. What other information could she say about them? "They look like the organic purple carrots my cousin buys. Each carrot seems to have four ends." It was true, they looked more like one of those wooden back massagers, or wire head massage/tickler things than a carrot. "Can you imagine peeling every nook and cranny of those things?" Zhenya never peeled them, she just chopped them up, much to Sophia's disgust. She didn't have much else to say, so she stepped back to let others come and have a play with the Mandrakes.

"I agree, and I also see a resemblance to curly kale." She smiled at Zhenya. The girl seemed to be a natural at Herbology. Organic carrots... very creative... "I would not enjoy peeling these, you're quite correct." ~~Sounded like a job for the house-elf, if you asked her...~~

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Yes! He had been right along with Zhenya and Hades. He made it a point to scribble down all the things that he could. NEWTs were next year but he liked to be prepared. Ocasionally, he would shoot AJ a look. Boy, did her answer amuse the heck out of him. He was positive she had made up that. LOL.

Touch the mandrakes! YEAH! The Hufflepuff pulled on his own pair of dragon hide gloves after dropping his quill into his open inkwell for safe keeping. On his way to the get closer to the cart, he supplied an answer, his hand up even though he was walking. "You can ell when the fruit is ripe because it has a shade of colour between yellow and orange.'' Berries were a physical part of the plant so yeah. Adi supposed that answer could work.

Anyway. With the dragon hide gloves on, Adi didn't really think he got the true feel of the plant. "I think the leaves are kind of smooth.'' Or was he off with that description?

"Kind of smooth, but also kind of hairy, if you give it a touch." And she did so, without one glove for a brief second. "Good observation about the berries, however." She added that onto the list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararararararawr

She stuck one finger out and gave the mandrake root a soft poke. WEIRD. Heheh. She touched once more before returning to her seat and putting a gloved hand in the air. "Well, the root is pretty big right now, so I guess it's matured just like the magical kind of mandrake matures...except these ones just grow instead of growing like a baby." That part was obvious, right? These roots did look like twisty person-ish THINGS but they weren't real babies. Not that magical mandrakes were REAL babies, but y'know. This was getting confusing. "You have to wait for the magical kind of mandrake to mature before using it in potions, so I bet you have to wait for the mundane ones to mature too, before using them in the an- anes-" she squinted at the notes she'd written before. "Anesthetics." Theeeere it was. She'd gotten to the word eventually, okay?

"Great observation!" Aha, the class was THINKING. These kids were just so much smarter than the ones she'd had in her last Herbology lessons at Hogwarts... but anyway. "Good. I'll add that to the list."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chalkboard Notes

MANDRAKES

also called Autumn or Mediterranean Mandrake
perennials
branched roots, which appear humanoid in appearance
must mature before harvesting for use
mundane: used by Muggles to make patients unconscious (anesthetic)
mundane: highly poisonous when eaten (alkaloids)
mundane: tufty, with purpleish greenish leaves
mundane: related to the potato
mundane: five-petaled flowers
mundane: globe-shaped berries
mundane: berries turn yellow-orange when ripe (in autumn)
magical: used to make the Restorative Draught
magical:
magical:
magical:
magical: most famous use was during the Hogwarts basilisk attack of 1992

"Go ahead and add onto your notes, if you haven't done so already. Then EVERYONE needs gloves on a pair of earmuffs. I will not move on with the lesson until everyone is earmuffed, is that clear?"

She looked around and didn't wait for them to give her the all clear to start passing out ugly earmuffs. The bin of muffs was under her second cart, and to show WHY they would need earmuffs, she pulled the sheet off the second cart.

HERE were the magical mandrakes, all of them crammed together in one big planter, with their leaves all a-rustlin' and tusslin' because they were getting too BIG to be together. "Quickly, before we all get muffed... tell me some more properties of the magical mandrake so we know what to expect when we tug them up!"