Finally, finally Violet had got a smile and a nod from Professor Flamsteed for an answer--even if that Cecilia Summers got hers out a fraction of a minute earlier. Well, well, the day was looking up--or maybe it was the flowers that made her feel more optimistic? Hmmm...

Filing that train of thought away for later, Violet went over to the small yellow flowers in the cup-like arrangement on their long stalks which had stumped her earlier--fennel. That was the plant with the licorice flavor that she hated the taste of, but she loved the little flowers. Kneeling unconcernedly in the dirt, she used a small trowel to carefully loosen the soil from around the plant, going carefully to avoid cutting off too many of the roots. She'd seen other kids using their wands, but, witch or not, she wasn't risking using magic and possibly damaging the plant. "Sorry about this," she murmured to the yarrow plant before she carefully removed it from the soil and carried it to a free workstation.

Once there, she carefully laid the plant down on the spare handkerchief she had in a pocket and then began to gently snip away some of the leaves, trying not to take too many from any one spot. Then she looked at the flowers a minute--the professor hadn't specifically said what parts, other than the roots, they were supposed to take but Violet knew from watching their cook that the fennel flowers were edible. After a moment's thought, Violet clipped off a few flowers, too, for good measure.

After she thought she had enough, she laid the flowers and leaves each in a separate pile and began exploring the roots, looking for dried ones to cut away.