Plants in Harry Potter

In her fictional Harry Potter fantasy series, author J. K. Rowling has imagined a wide variety of plants with magical properties. Some have useful properties for healing and potions, while others are toxic or contain dark magic. A non-exhaustive list follows:

Abyssinian Shrivelfig

Hogwarts students work with these plants in their second-year, learning how to prune them. They are used as an ingredient in Shrinking Solution once peeled.

Alihotsy

When consumed, its leaves cause unbridled madness.

Bouncing Bulb

Supposedly learned by fourth-year Herbology students. They are re-potted during Herbology class. As seen in The Goblet of Fire, while re-potting one, it slipped out of Harry's hand and hit him in the face. Not much more is known about this plant.

Bubotuber

A bubotuber is a thick, black, slug-like plant that extends perpendicularly to the soil. It is normal for bubotubers to squirm, and they are covered in pus-filled swellings.

The bubotuber pus is described as corrosive and able to create severe irritation such as boils if it comes into contact with the skin. To prevent this, dragon-hide gloves are worn when handling it. The pus looks yellowish-green and smells of petrol. In a diluted form it is usable as a cure for acne.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione Granger receives an envelope of bubotuber pus from an undisclosed person after Rita Skeeter publishes a story falsely stating that she has a romantic relationship with both Harry Potter and Viktor Krum.

In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Molly Weasley mentions bubotuber pus being sold by some as a protective potion, falsely supposed to guard against Voldemort and his followers.

Devil's Snare
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Devil's Snare is a vine-like plant that kills its victims by constriction and reacts poorly to light or fire.

Devil's Snare is composed of a mass of soft, springy tendrils and vines that seem to possess some sensitivity to pressure. The plant uses its creepers and tendrils to wrap around those who touch it, binding their arms, legs, stomach, chest and neck. It then tightens its grip on them, squeezing them and eventually strangling them. The harder victims struggle against Devil's Snare, the faster and tighter it coils around them; if they relax, it will not kill them as quickly. Devil's Snare thrives in a dark, damp environment, therefore light, particularly fire, can be used to protect oneself from the Devil's Snare.

It has appeared three times in the series. First, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it is Professor Sprout's protection against the theft of the Philosopher's Stone and proves an obstacle to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hermione defeats it by conjuring fire, after learning about it in Herbology class.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a potted Devil's Snare is sent to Unspeakable Broderick Bode while he is incapacitated in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, by someone working for Lord Voldemort. Healer Strout, who is in charge of Bode, mistakes the deadly plant for a , and it later strangles Bode.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Professor Sprout is mentioned using Devil's Snare against Death Eaters during the Battle of Hogwarts.

In the film version of , Hermione recites a poem about Devil's Snare:

:"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare,
:It's deadly fun,
:But will sulk in the sun."

She and Harry relax and it lets them pass through, but she has to conjure bright light to force it to release Ron, who cannot calm himself. Note that the films are not always canonical.

Dittany
Dittany is first mentioned when Harry Potter is looking it up in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi for his Easter homework although the information doesn't seem to have sunk in as in the last book it is Hermione who knows how to use essence of Dittany to treat minor wounds, such as Ron's , or to prevent scarring, such as Malfoy's from the Sectumsempra curse.

Fanged Geranium

Harry Potter first encounters this plant on his Herbology O.W.L. in his fifth-year. It will bite any human that gets within range.

Flitterbloom
Flitterblooms are only mentioned once, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Before being revealed as , Healers in St Mungo's believe that the plant sent to Broderick Bode is a Flitterbloom. Therefore, it is presumably harmless and vine-like in form, small enough to be grown in a pot and sometimes kept as a houseplant.

Flutterby Bush
A Flutterby Bush quivers and shakes. Fourth-year Herbology students learn to prune these plants in class. It is mentioned in The Goblet of Fire. In The Deathly Hallows in preparation for Bill and Fleur's wedding, Mrs. Weasley replaced the old boots and rusty cauldrons on the back step with two new flutterby bushes.

Gillyweed

Gillyweed resembles slimy, greyish-green rat tails, and it has an unpleasant taste and rubbery texture, like octopus tentacles. After eating gillyweed, one will grow functional gills and develop webbed feet and fingers that make swimming easier.

Harry Potter eats Gillyweed in Goblet of Fire to complete the second task in the Triwizard Tournament, which takes place underwater. In the book, Dobby gives Harry the Gillyweed, which he most likely stole from storeroom. (Snape later accuses Harry of stealing the Gillyweed.) In the film, it is Neville who gives Harry the Gillyweed. He learned about it from Magical Water-Plants of the Highland Lochs, given to him by Bartemius Crouch Jr while he was disguised as Mad-Eye Moody.

Gurdyroot
A Gurdyroot resembles a green onion. It is mentioned in The Half-Blood Prince by Luna Lovegood to be excellent for warding off Gulping Plimpies.

Harry, Ron and Hermoine are offered Gurdyroot juice by Xenophilius Lovegood during their visit to his house in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry notes that, as an infusion, Gurdyroots taste like liquidised bogey-flavoured Every Flavour Beans. Not much more is known about Gurdyroots.

Mandrake/Mandragora

A mandrake, or mandragora, is a plant with roots in the form of a humanoid which pass through several developmental stages before reaching full maturity. Their properties make them useful during Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which Professor Sprout uses them to concoct a potion to revive those who are petrified by the basilisk. She has her classes repot them as they grow. Since the cry of the mature mandrake is fatal (immature mandrakes will only knock a person out), the students wear earmuffs for safety.

The plant is also used as a weapon by Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows along with other deadly plants. She tosses them out of windows at advancing Death Eaters in hope that their scream will deter them from entering the castle.

Mimbulus mimbletonia

Mimbulus mimbletonia is described as "appear to be a small grey cactus in a pot, except that it was covered with what looked like boils rather than spines" (OotP p. 186). The genus name mimbulus may be related to the real genus Mimulus, especially since those plants are used as folk remedies for "shyness, anxiety, and forgetfulness" and those are traits of Neville Longbottom. It is extremely rare and possibly of Assyrian origin, because that is where Neville's Uncle Algie acquired it. It is notable for its unique defensive mechanism: spraying Stinksap from its boils when poked. Later in the plant's development, it makes "odd crooning noises when touched".

Stinksap is a non-poisonous, but foul-smelling liquid produced by Mimbulus mimbletonia. It is described as dark green and smelling like "rancid manure" (OotP 187). Neville Longbottom demonstrates its defensive mechanism for several of his friends on the Hogwarts Express, covering the compartment in Stinksap. The password for Gryffindor's Common Room that year was also Mimbulus mimbletonia. In the movie version he also has the Mimbulus mimbletonia, but the plant doesn't spray Stinksap. The password for the Gryffindor's Common Room in that year was also Mimbulus mimbletonia.

There is a joke involving one of these plants, a Healer, and a hag, although it is not told in any of the books, but only mentioned.

Puffapod
Supposedly first-year Hogwarts students learn about these in Herbology. Puffapods are fat and pink in appearance. They burst into flower if they are dropped.

Screechsnap
A Screechsnap is part of fifth-year Herbology curriculum. It is semi-sentient and if given too much dragon dung manure, it becomes uncomfortable, wriggling and squeaking in distress.

Snargaluff

In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, there is a Herbology lesson in which the students must extract a pod from the Snargaluff plants.

The snargaluff plant appears to be a gnarled stump at first glance, but upon trying to retrieve its pods, (described as an "unpleasantly pulsating green" thing about the size of a grapefruit) long, prickly, bramble-like vines fly out the top and whip through the air. Because of these thorns, protective gloves and goggles are used when dealing with this plant. Once the vines whip out, a hole opens up in the middle of the tentacle-like branches. One must plunge his or her arm into the depths of this hole to retrieve the pods. Once you let go of the vines, they go back inside, and the plant goes back to looking apparently harmless.

Upon retrieving the pod, it is best to squeeze the juice out quickly, as Professor Sprout declared that the juice is best when it's fresh. To squeeze out the juice, it is said that the best method is to puncture it with something sharp. Once you are able to puncture the pod, tubers that wriggle like pale green worms will be released.

Venomous Tentacula

Venomous Tentacula is spiky, dark red in appearance. It is first seen in the third greenhouse in Harry's first herbology lesson in his second year at Hogwarts. It reaches out toward people with its spiky vines. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Fred and George Weasley are seen purchasing Venomous Tentacula seeds from Mundungus Fletcher. Neville Longbottom is seen using Venomous Tentacula against the Death Eaters at the Battle of Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows.

Whomping Willow

The Whomping Willow is a large, magical, and violent tree. One such tree is known to exist on Hogwarts grounds; in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Gilderoy Lockhart states he has met several of the exotic species, though it is possible that he was lying.

The Hogwarts tree is rooted to the spot, but it will lash out at anyone who comes too close. Planted in the year that Remus Lupin came to school at Hogwarts, it has grown to a good height and become quite dangerous. In its early days, students often goaded it to attack so they could duck the blows, but this was eventually stopped as it became too risky.

The tree serves as more than an example in aggressive botany, however: it was planted to enable werewolf Remus Lupin to attend the school. The Willow covers one of the few remaining secret passages into and out of Hogwarts, this one leading into the abandoned and boarded Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. Lycanthropy not being a popular trait, Lupin would use this tunnel to spend every full moon in the Shack. As a side-effect, the Shack gained a reputation as the most haunted place in Britain because villagers in nearby Hogsmeade would hear Lupin go through the painful ordeal of turning into a werewolf.

The tree can be temporarily disabled by pressing a knot in its trunk, enabling safe passage. (In the film, the tree is shown being disabled with the "Immobulous Charm".) Only a few people know of its purpose and use; unfortunately, this includes the right-hand-man of Lord Voldemort, Wormtail.

Harry Potter and his friends first encounter the Whomping Willow as they start their second year, when Harry and Ron crash a flying car into it. The damaged tree promptly attempts to return the favor, hitting the car with its branches. The Willow's secret nature is revealed at the end of their third year. Also in their third year, it also destroys Harry's beloved Nimbus 2000 Quidditch broom. In the movie the fight between Harry and Hermione and the Whomping Willow is longer and the tree also used long vines against them.

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