Many 'Harry Potter' plants thrive in Utah
That being said, I have been intrigued with the magical (or is that medicinal?) plants that inhabit J.K. Rowling's magical world. So where does reality end and fantasy begin?
Many of the plants mentioned in the "Harry Potter" books are common in our area. If you are anxious to try your Hogwarts wizard spells, local nurseries will have monkshood, dittany and wormwood — and with a little effort you can find knotgrass, fluxweed, mandrakes and belladonna.
But don't bother looking for Devil's Snare, Shrivelfigs, Bubotubers, Leaping Toadstools, Gillyweed or the Venomous Tentecula, because they don't exist.
As for the herbs in Rowling's books, she has said in various interviews that she referenced a book written by Nicholas Culpepper more than three and a half centuries ago.
In the field of herbal medicine, Culpepper (1616-54) was a legendary figure. His 1652 volume had the unassuming title of "The English Physician or an Astrologo-Physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of This Nation: Being a Complete Method of Physick, Whereby a Man May Preserve His Body in Health; or Cure Himself, Being Sick, for Three Pence Charge, With Such Things Only as Grow in England, They Being Most Fit for English Bodies."
The word herb is from the Latin "herba." Originally, the word referred to only non-woody plants, but today it means any plant part including flowers, seeds, leaves, stems or roots that have nutritional or medicinal value.
Just a word of caution: Many of the plants mentioned in this column are highly poisonous and are never to be used as foods or other purposes without competent advice.
Looking at the real herbs found in Harry Potter's world, we have Aconite, or Monkshood. It gets its name because each individual flower resembles the hood of a medieval monk. This native plant, which also goes by wolfsbane, can be seen now while hiking the higher elevations of Utah's mountains. The plant is toxic to grazing livestock and humans.
There are two kinds of belladonna. Atropa belladonna is related to tomatoes and other nightshades. Like most members of the family, it is poisonous.
Amaryllis belladonna, otherwise known as Naked Lady, sends up leafless shoots topped by trumpet-shaped flowers.
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