One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

Part 1: Foreword

Part 2: A – G

Part 3: H – N

Part 4: O – Z

Part 5: Appendix

By Phyllida Spore

Part 1: ForewordWhat distinguishes a plant from an animal? In the magical study of Herbology, this

question becomes particularly important. As many of our magical plants display an almost sentient intelligence and appearance, it becomes hard to tell what should be classified as plant or creature.

It is true that the common distinction between plant and animal does not always apply or seems weak in some situation. Due to this, another explanation is necessary. Any magical plant relies on being firmly rooted in something (generally dirt or compost) for at least the growth period of its life. Secondly, a plant is almost always reliant on its sense of touch, rather than sight or smell, the dominant senses for an animal. Finally, a plant lacks the capability to communicate in word or thought.

While possessing only one of these criteria might still qualify a specimen as an animal, possessing all three would most assuredly classify it as a plant.

Part 2: A – G

Aligriwid

Common Name: Aligriwid (Alternanthera philoxeroides; Family Amaranthaceae)

Location: It is Native to South American Rainforests, but can be transported to foreign countries if kept in the correct environment.

Description: It has light green leaves, which are opposite and simple, and a flowering head of small white flowers borne in axils. It has a yellow stalk, which emerges 3 feet from the ground. To Muggle eyes it is merely a plant, which provides cover for some wildlife, and is used by blackbird swarms for roosting.

Common Uses: The Aligriwid, if consumed, will make the consumer mute for exactly 73 hours. He or she will not be able to speak, cough, sneeze or make any form of noise. For this to work, the plant must be boiled in salt water for 2 hours during a full moon, and then kept in an airtight container until consumption. When eaten it grows in one's stomach until if pokes out of the mouth, blocking the voice box. This process is extremely painful. After 73 hours, the Aligriwid disintegrates, forming a sticky lining around the stomach.

Precautions: Once Aligriwid has disintegrated, do not consume any artificial sugar or any sweets. Medieval wizards, to help hide their secrets, used this plant. It was a form of blackmail; none wanted to be forced to eat Aligriwid. The Ministry of Magic outlawed it in 1769, and it is still illegal today.

Care: The plant must be kept in a moist environment; if dried out its affects will not be prevalent.

Cecylahys

Common Name: Cecylahys

Location: Peru, Argentina, Brazil and other sections of South America

Description: The Cecylahys is a woody vine with leaves up to one foot long. The leaves can be ground into a powder which, when added to goats milk can make an extremely effective pimple remover. The plant produces pink, grape-sized berries, which will give one a fantastic singing voice when consumed. The wood is a blackish brown with many bumps and ridges. The vine is hard, heavy, tough, and when freshly cut produces yellow wax.

Common Uses: It is used in the Amazon to protect newborn babies from harmful infections. It was also used as a snakebite remedy.

Precautions: If this plant is exposed to dragon dung, a horrible phenomenon occurs. Firstly, the long leaves will grow many small bumps along the veins. After a few seconds these bumps will swell, and then burst-spurting an acidic yellow poison in the proximity of 10 meters. Also, the dragon-dung's odor will increase by 500%, paralyzing anyone within 1 kilometer in seconds.

Care: The grape-sized berries will shrink and then wither. If anyone has eaten a berry from that particular vine in the past three weeks, they will lose their hair. It would be incurable without making an immensely complex potion, which must be swallowed within three days of the hair loss.

Crumpton’s Crumpets

Common Name: Crumpton's Crumpets

Location: Crumpton's Crumpets are indigenous to, and naturally grow, only in Sheffield, England. They require rich, soft soil and copious amounts of both dragon dung and rain. Though this may seem something, which can be gotten anywhere, it is the specific mix in the peat moors of Sheffield that give the Crumpets the ability to grow beyond seedlings. A wizard by the name of Crumpton Utt crossbred them in an attempt to invent a plant, which could be grown anywhere and would flourish in any circumstances, and hopefully, be eaten. Only one of his goals was met. Crumpton's Crumpets are extremely delicate, needing the most tender of touches and nurturing imaginable, and their seeds never fall far from them, so they tend to remain in dense little clusters. However, they can be eaten, and are in fact quite a rare delicacy.

Description: The plant grows to about two feet in height, the dark purple leaves growing in tight clusters about the central stalk. The flowers are a golden brown color, which only heightens the appearance of the crumpet-shaped blossoms. They take approximately three months to mature.

Common Uses: In addition to their delicious taste, 'Crumpton's Crumpets' have many magical uses. When stewed and distilled into a kind of wine, they are said to give pleasant dreams to those who suffer from nightmares. When dried and used in potions, they can tempt the appetite of even the sickliest individual, and will put flesh back on the bones of anyone, no matter how malnourished. In fact, one could travel a desert with no more provisions than a pocketful of these plants, and still live to tell the tale, for they provide more nourishment than the most decadent of feasts.

Precautions: The flowers must be given willingly of the plant, or they will be the most deadly poison imaginable. Any who pluck an unwilling flower to eat will sicken; their skin turn black, and eventually, they will die.

Care: Within the peat moor area of Sheffield, in which Crumpton developed the plant, they grow without so much as a whisper of care. Growing them in captivity requires much care and delicacy from the planting of the minute seeds to the harvesting of the leaves, flowers, stem and roots. Plant the seeds in a soil that is an even mixture of peat moor from Sheffield, dragon dung (Chinese Fireball works best) and sand. Water liberally never letting the soil completely dries. When it is time to harvest the flowers, allow the flowers to be given. Do not use the leaves, stem or roots until after the third time that blossoms are given. Time between full blossoming ranges between three days and two weeks.

Frosty

Common Name: Frosty (Firgolo Lambastini)

Location: The Firgolo Lambastini is found in forests in the Northern Hemisphere that have much old wood decay and have deep areas that receive very little light. Frosty prefers to live under the edge of rotting wood or in the deep recesses of rocks. As Firgolo Lambastini has the ability to move to new locations, it is rare that one will be able to find the same plant in the same location. The plant seems to shrink into itself during daylight hours, though during the night, they seek to gain as much moonglow as possible; the less moonlight available, the more that the plant will move about trying to find just the right angle to gain the moonlight, yet still in a position where it will be able to hide in the dark once the sun rises.

Description: Frosty has a long, delicate white stem off which grow ten white leaves a month. The stem has a waxy sheen to it and the petals are fuzzy on the tops. At the top of the stem is an upside-down teardrop shaped bright blue bulb surrounded with hard spikes, which prevent creatures from disturbing the plant. On the night of the Blue Moon (once every 2.7 years), the bulb on the top of the plant will open and unfurl. The petals are five inches in length and three inches in width and are a bright blue with a shimmer sparkle to them. During the night of the Blue Moon, the flower, while in bloom, sings a very eerie, song. This song is essential to the reproduction of the plant; nearly invisible spores are emitted and float in the air where they collide with the spores of other plants. Once they have collided, the spores fall to the earth where they then bury themselves.

Common uses: Pepper up Potion; Invigoration Draught; Scintillation Solution; directly applying soaked petals to a third-degree burn.

Precautions: Use of the plant should be restricted to low levels of light as too much light, or direct sunlight, even after the plant has been harvested, can decrease the plants strength.

Care: Once uprooted, it needs to be preserved in specific conditions and by specific people alone. As are most colds and flu that it cures, this plant is rather stubborn and finicky about the way it is to be taken care of, and in the hands of an inexperienced Herbologist, it will expire. This plant requires the most adequate measures of care, and a deviation can be fatal to it. It thrives on water (being as it is about three parts out of four water), and needs a good supply. The water must be fresh and distilled; any minute component of dirt can destroy the plant. When it comes to fertilizers, this plant detests the manmade variety, thriving on mist, to be used every day, as can be drawn up using a mister, and dry ice, which is only to be used once a month, and in minute quantities. The best soil is very damp clay, found in old forests. It likes the company of ferns and is often found to respond well to a Herbologist who has ferns in their greenhouse.

Frosty should never be repotted on one's own accord. The plant is capable of motion and will move to a suitable locale only when tired of its old spot. Only a very advanced Herbologist could possibly predict where this plant would be best off, and even so, it is wiser to leave it to its own discretion. Sunshine is fatal to its white petals, which turn a sick yellow (a sure sign of illness) when left exposed to sunshine for too long. On the other hand, moonshine is extremely healthy

for the plant, and it is found to voluntarily move to spots in order to gain more thereof. Less moonshine can result in a condition called Greyment, which is essentially the drying up of all healthy elements in the plant. It is imperative to be careful about the measurement of the aforementioned elements. Too much water can cause this plant to become contaminated; any potion then made will leave the patient in a state of inebriation, or cause them to lose consciousness, depending on the amount of overexposure. Too little water, however, can result in dehydration. A lack of mist can kill this plant; it enjoys the mist that stands over lakes and rivers at dawn, and is best simply left in a mist. The overdose of dry ice, however, can murder this plant. It will droop and cause food poisoning of the most disturbing variety to one who drinks a potion made from it.

Green Stone

Common Name: The Green Stone

Location: West Coast of North America; usually in dense forests, around Redwood trees.

Description: The Green Stone, while in its plant guise, looks very similar to a fern. But it does have the ability, which it utilizes when the weather is cold; to 'masquerade' as a moss covered rock. The process is quite simple. The fern curls up upon itself, and the outer layer of the plant hardens, forming rock-like stiffness.

Common Uses: While in its 'rocklike' state, the insides of the plant are extremely useful for a specific type of potion. The potion turns one's outer layer of skin to a rocklike hardness, providing shell-like defense to the person.

Precautions: The plant is easily reverted to its plant 'form' by warming it to a temperature about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, the plant unfurls, and becomes a fern-like plant, with no particular magical uses.

Care: The only way to determine if a fern is a Green Stone plant is to place the plant in a cold place for an hour and watch the results. The same means may also be accomplished with a Freezing spell, but an hour is still needed to observe the full effect of the cold.

Part 3: H – N

Katrinitata

Common Name: Katrin or Katrinitata

Location: Forests of Ireland

Description: The Katrin looks similar to the English Mandrake, with several differences along the way. For one, the Katrin grow in muddy, dirty water, and cannot survive in plain soil. The plant that grows from its head, a similarity of it and the Mandragora, is not shaped like a garden onion, more so like a lily pad. A small red flower appears when they have fully grown and have begun to secrete a liquid known as Katrinitata-sheznik.

Common Uses: The Katrin, or Katrinitata, is used in many types of sleeping drafts. The Katrinitata's liquid is a very valuable potion ingredient. It is actually not know what the purpose of the Katrinitata’s body is, because everything, except the Katrinitata-sheznik which is secreted in the purplish plants underarm region, is taken from the large red or white flower on the large greenish lily-pad.

Precautions: The effect of the Katrinitata-sheznik is fatal, even a small droplet on the skin can kill the infected person within forty-eight hours. Unlike many plant liquids, this liquid affects the person differently as they die. Instead of dying from internal bleeding, the infected persons suffer horrendously as the small liquid particles eat away at their nervous system. This results in extremely violent case of the shakes and twitches. This liquid was thought to be the cause of great potato famine, when a muggle discovered the Katrinitata, and tried to plant it in his field with potatoes. The Katrin plant died, and the liquid was flushed from its body, leaking into the potatoes. When the potatoes were taken to market, the liquid was then spread to the hands of farmers, and to other potatoes.

Care: The Katrin neared extinction in the late 1950s. The Katrin were often mistaken for gnomes, and launched through the air, out of people yards, swamps, and gardens. As gnomes can take the rough landing of a gnome throw, the Katrin cannot, thusly it dyed out quickly. The Katrin was reborn by an Irish Wizard, quite by accident though. He was fiddling around out by his pond and found a Katrin trying to sneak into the pond. He kicked it, and though it dyed when it hit the water, the Katrinitata-sheznik was secreted, and millions of tiny plants were born into this pond. This piece of property is now known as the "International Katrinitata Reservation".

Lace-of-Frost

Common Name: Lace-of-Frost

Location: Lace-of-Frost is a rare and delicate plant that thrives in the bare soil of cold climates. Usually found in the stripped ground that marks the progress of a glacier, its roots run deep into the rocky soil, taking nourishment from the snowmelt.

Description: It has long, slender white-grey stalks that tend to grow in clumps, with pale blue (almost translucent) delicate leaves intertwining along the length of the plant that give it its name.

Common Uses: In minute doses, tinctures from the leaves can heal fevers and inflammations of any sort. But the true value of the plant is revealed when the juices inside the stalks and roots of twenty plants are slowly distilled for a period of sixty days. The resulting potion must be handled carefully, for a single drop will drain every bit of heat from whatever it touches before evaporating. Hence, any creature or hex that involves fire can be made null by the presence of the liquid.

Precautions: When held, the plant almost immediately begins draining warmth from the holder; but if the heat is too extreme, as from a furnace, the plant begins to slowly evaporate like water.

Care: The very smell of the potion will make dragons and salamanders tractable; for they can sense that to touch it likely spell their doom. By the same token, however, the dung of dragons cannot be allowed to come into contact with the plants. The dung contains too much of the essence of dragons, creatures of fire, and the plants will evaporate in short order if fertilized with large amounts of the compound. Smaller amounts of the compound have little effect but to stunt the plant's growth. Many wizards believe the properties of Lace-of-Frost were developed as a defense against those creatures that would feed on it; the plant being rare as it is, if creatures fed upon it, it would disappear in short order.

Lobbianus

Common Name: Lobbianus Plant or the Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus)

Location: Mild to moderate climates, blooming only for a brief period in late spring; very common in Europe and North America.

Description: The Lobbianus plant has blood red flowers unfurl from a tubular stem. The Lobbianus signature bloom is surrounded by a dense, waxy collection of leaves that have no inherent magical value.

Common Uses: Often found as a staple ingredient in beauty potions.

Precautions: Use of this plant in a potion brewed by anyone of even minimal good looks will in fact create the reverse effect, rendering the drinker malformed.

Care: The shredded lobbianus petals, when applied to a beauty potion, may only be utilized by the truly hideous.

Mandrake (Mandragora)

Common Name: Mandrake or Mandragora

Location: Center of dense forests; usually in Northern Britain and Central Germany

Description: Mandrake seedlings are little plants, purplish green in color with what look like green human children growing where the roots would be. These plants grow and mature in the same way a human child would. Their adolescence is marked by acne problems and secretive behavior. Once they reach adulthood, they can be harvested for potions and draughts.

Common Uses: The Mandrake root is a powerful restorative, forming an essential part of most antidotes, including one for Petrifaction. The Mandrake Restorative Draft returns people who are transfigured or cursed to their original state.

Precautions: The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to humans, so special care must be taken when growing them. Even as a baby, the Mandrake's howls can knock a person out for a couple of hours, so earmuffs or earplugs must always be worn. The Dugbog is particularly fond of eating Mandrakes, and is one of their most fierce natural predators.

Care: Many witches and wizards refuse to harvest the Mandrake root because of its close resemblance to a human being. They prefer to buy the already harvested and processed Mandrake root available at the local Apothecary, thus pretending they had nothing to do with the demise of it. Fresh Mandrake is more powerful, however, so their squeamish nature damages their potions effectiveness.

Narvika

Common Name: Narvika

Location: This vine is native to the taiga in southern Siberia.

Description: The Narvika vine, on first sight, resembles a morning glory. One way to tell a Narvika plant from a morning glory is to look for red streaks on the violet flowers.

Common Uses: Functions mainly as a decoration in Britain, but in Russia, it is widely used in warming potions during the winter. Its sap can also be refined into a fuel for lanterns. A single flame burning this fuel may warm an entire room to a comfortable temperature even during the coldest of winters.

Precautions: The Narvika can accept any kind of red blood except dragons' blood. Muggle blood kills the plant immediately.

Care: What sets the Narvika apart from its fellow vines is its need for blood as a fertilizer in order to grow well, and to augment its magical properties. A Narvika without blood is no different from a morning glory, and will in fact die within a week. Note, though, that feeding a morning glory blood will not make it a Narvika. From the perspective of Muggle science, red blood pigments are rich in iron. This source of iron apparently is vital for the Narvika's survival. According to a study done by a group of Russian Herbologists in 1992, Narvika plants also make use of the immune system cells within the blood in order to fight off diseases, to which they are extremely vulnerable. One disease in particular, the Volga Vinepox, to which all mammals are immune, is able to kill off a Narvika in several hours. Naturally-growing Narvika usually germinate around animal carcasses. Once the blood has started seeping into the ground the hardy seeds grow into seedlings very quickly. Once the roots are sufficiently developed, they begin draining blood from the carcass. The blood is then stored as clots in the roots and lower stem, for further use as the plant matures. This store of blood will run out within a week, therefore guaranteeing a short lifespan for the plant. In this small space of time, the Narvika matures at an extremely fast rate, climbing nearby trees and flowering within five days. Seedpods form by the sixth day, and the seeds, resembling little black bullets, are forcefully ejected from the pods when the plant dies on the seventh or eighth day. These 'fired' bullets fly a considerable distance before landing, and the seeds can lie dormant for up to two years while awaiting an incoming blood supply, which stimulates it to begin its life cycle. Cultivated Narvika can live for up to seven months given a sufficient blood supply. To supply the blood, all one needs to do is pour blood into the earth around the plant once a week. The plant will absorb and store all the blood within half an hour. Human blood used must be from humans with magical powers. Bloodlines do not count, only the person's innate abilities.

Nikacima

Common Name: Nikacima

Location: The Nikacima is a rare plant found in North and South America. It lives in the tops of trees in forests and rainforests.

Description: The Nikacima feeds an all types of animal blood with the exception of humans. The leaves and flower blossoms of the plant are red. The darker the color of red the more blood the plant has consumed.

Common Uses: Legend has it, that it can be utilized to make special blood replenishing potions. This has yet to be confirmed and all methods have been lost.

Precautions: It is feared that the Nikacima is dying out because birds have learned that the Nikacima is deadly. The Nikacima has also been known to feed on squirrels and small mammals when they make the mistake of stepping onto the blossom. No one has ever seen the actual swallowing of the Nikacima’s prey. Very few Nikacima are grown in captivity because they are so hard to find. If more could be grown in captivity and studied new was of consuming food could be found. It is thought by some that if a spell were to be placed on the pedals to change their color the Nikacima’s prey would not recognize it and they would be able to reproduce into greater numbers.

Care: The Nikacima feeds on mostly birds. Being high up in the canopy of the rainforests birds are easy to catch. The birds are attracted to the blossoms of the Nikacima. On the pedals of the blossoms are small dots that range in color from black to bright yellow. The birds are fooled by the dots thinking that they are insects. When the birds step into the center of the blossom the pedals close and the flower blossom swallows the bird. Every time the Nikacima swallows its prey the blossom grows. The darker the color of red on the pedals of the flower the more blood the blossom has consumed. Not all of the blossoms on one Nikacima plant are the same color; because they do not all consume the same amount of blood. The darker the color of the pedals the lighter the dot on the pedal is. The lighter the color of the pedals the darker the color of the dot. This high contrast is what makes the dots stand out to birds. The Nikacima reproduces in a very strange but practical way. When a blossom reaches a certain size it breaks away from its main vine. The blossom grows its own vines and moves away from its original vine.

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Part 4: O – Z

Rodentia

Common Name: Rodentia

Location: The Rodentia is a rare and interesting plant native North America. It thrives off of the large rat population and lives in the moist walls of dank sewers.

Description: Anywhere between 10 and 20 tendrils extend into the crumbling brick, securing the plant in place while a wide flat black appendage, which looks much like a leaf but has very fine sensitive hairs on it, spreads out on the sewer floor.

Common Uses: These plants, though they seem to cause a cruel death to innocent rats, can be very helpful in determining the blood type of humans once their tastes are identified. If the subject strokes the leaf it will begin to curl if the blood type is correct. This must be done quickly however, as the plant has a strong grip.

Precautions: The plants, at all cost, must not be exposed to sunlight. This will kill it immediately, and in some cases they have been known to swell and explode violently.

Care: When a rat (the meal of choice) steps on the hairs they are able, through an ingrained magical ability, to tell the blood type of the rodent. Rodentia can survive only off a specific blood type, depending on the variety. Different plants have adopted for different blood types and so there are Rodentia O, A, B and AB. Once the plant identifies its victim’s blood type, it either lets it move on or ensnares it. The leaf is fairly large and so when it detects valid prey it curls around it and some of the tendrils from the wall sneak out and begin extracting the blood. When it is satiated the leaf uncurls and then creates a wave like motion that shuffles the carcass off to the side. A highly complex plant, some consider that it might even contain some sentience. This plant can be grown in greenhouse conditions provided it is nice and dark and it has a healthy supply of proper rodents. If rodents are not available similar sized creatures will do. The plant only requires one rat per day; however, this is based off of New York sewer rats, which they particularly thrive on.

Scruddlynape

Common Name: Scruddlynape (Occaeco)

Location: The Occaeco is found in the dry, hot climate of the deserts of Africa. It's found growing in sandy soils and can survive on less than an inch of water a year. It has almost no natural enemies as it is invisible and thus common creatures are not able to eat it.

Description: The Scruddlynape is a dark green when it is visible, but due to the fact that, as it appears, it seems to change from a yellow hue, there is much debate on if the plant is not, in fact, yellow when invisible. However, what is known, when the plant is visible, is that the leaves are dark green and rubbery; this helps the plant to keep the water that it so sparingly soaks up. The roots of the plant, unlike the portion above ground, are not invisible; they are a dark brown in color. Four times a year the Scruddlynape blooms. The flowers are a brilliant blue color and, once every ten hours, they spray a mist into the air. This is both how they pollinate and how they attract the Colinnade Fly; this particular fly is essential to the health of the plant as, during the pollination of the plant, the fly can find the plant, and land upon it's leaves and eats holes into the rubbery plant. These holes allow for contaminants to be expelled from the plant allowing for it to grow all the healthier.

Common uses: Plant fibers are used in the process of making Invisibility Cloaks; pollen is used in Blood-Replenishing Potion; roots used in Wit-Sharpening Potion.

Precautions: Care should be used when collecting the pollen of the Scruddlynape. When inhaled it can temporarily paralyze a mammal.

Care: This plant requires a well pebbled sand when kept in captivity and it is imperative that the grower either get access to Collinade Flies during the pollination months or, using a bubble head charm, to poke holds into the leaves of the plant in order to allow the plant to release it's toxins. As the plant is invisible, the grower will need to use a very particular freezing charm in order to make the plant visible. The use of 'gelidus' is the suggested charm, as it does not harm the plant. The charm will wear off itself in twenty minutes time. This plant must be kept in a warm and dry climate - the use of charms to create a barrier for this plant is well advised.

Whomping Willow

Common Name: Whomping Willow

Location: No known habitat. It is created using various charms and modified plant-life.

Description: The tree looks similar to a modern Weeping Willow, except its branches point up. When agitated, the tree will swing its limbs around bashing anything within reach.

Common Uses: Security, a spectacular version is used to protect portions of the grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Whomping Willow was the brainchild of a nineteenth century witch named Hilda Genrousa. She succeeded in growing a sapling with long, vine-like branches with a fluidity of motion when the wind blew. She then set her sights on charms, using a motion granting charm, which allowed the tree to move when exposed to outside stimuli. She then used an anger potion to give it its famed temper and violent reactions. Finally, she put a calming charm on one knot on the tree, so it could be calmed.

Precautions: The Whomping Willow also needs weekly therapy sessions, as its violent nature leads it to have pangs of guilt and issues accepting its reality. It hates its creator for mutilating it thus, and sometimes at night, it weeps, thus resembling its close cousin.

Care: The tree must be fed weekly using a compound of ground bark from other trees mixed with the water from a running stream. To calm it for extended periods, one must fool the tree into thinking no one is around by placing a mirror in front of the enchanted knot.

Xenodragon

Common Name: Xenodragon

Location: Along beaches, usually within 20 or so feet of water.

Description: The Xenodragon plant is a large, vine plant with fingerlike tentacles. It is deep purple in color, and is covered in fine silver hairs.

Common Uses: When the silver hairs are plucked they can be used in a potion to make bottled bravery.

Precautions: When threatened, the xenodragon rears up, its thick vines sticking straight out, taking up as much room as possible. It is generally an aggressive plant, but not overtly violent.

Care: When exposed to dragon dung, the plant immediately swells and turns a bright, sickly yellow color. Its vines become limp and puss-filled. The plant takes on a generally lack-luster attitude, and mops around in its pot. It stays low to the ground, and when attacked, it merely flops about. After prolonged exposure, its silver hairs fall out, and never re-grow. Recovery time

after ending exposure is about 3.5 months, although exposure longer than one week is usually fatal.

Part 5: Appendix

Section I: One the Merits of Dragon Dung compost

Dragons, being creatures of fire, have natural, controlled fires burning within them to generate heat and aiding their food digestion. Due to the intense heat within a dragon's digestive tract, any dung that passes out of the dragon would have been distilled and concentrated several times over, making the concentration of vital elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur many times higher. Sulfur concentration is particularly high in dragon dung, as evidenced by its particularly putrid smell when first excreted.

Dragon dung also contains various magical elements as a result of its own magical inner fire and its ingestion of magical creatures. One of the magical properties of dragon dung is a vitriol-like corrosive effect, although tests by Muggle methods show that it is chemically neutral. Another appears to be a chemical amplifier, which greatly increases the effect of the dung as a fertilizer. The massive amount of heat that the dung absorbs helps the plants grow at a more rapid rate. Plants flourish in sunlight because they absorb the heat from the suns' rays, thereby warming them up enough to carry out Photosynthesis. The dung acts as a plant's personal Sun. The heat that it absorbs in the fire lizard's stomach is radiated outward, thereby warming the plant up considerably. This allows the plant to carry out photosynthesis day and night, thereby enabling it to grow faster. There are several more magical properties in dragon dung, however the effects of those properties are either extremely marginal or only specific to certain plants.

The act of composting dragon dung would decrease slightly its concentration as bacteria decompose the dung. The overall percentage of sulfur concentration is reduced, removing the odor and making it suitable for plants. Generally, a fortnight or longer is required for full composting. However, the dragon's 'inner fire' in the dung will burn out after several weeks (between 5-8 weeks, depending on the dragon species), after which the dung becomes like any other regular dung compost fertilizer. Over composting is therefore not recommended.

For a short duration after fertilizing the plant with dragon dung compost, a plant will be able to draw nutrients and undergo cell division at a rate immeasurable by Muggles. However, some plants have adverse reactions to the dung's corrosive nature, and in turn begin producing corrosive, toxic, flammable or otherwise harmful substances. Caution should therefore be exercised when choosing dragon dung compost fertilizer for any particular plant. Non-magical fertilizers such as cow or sheep dung composts can, of course, be used freely. On a footnote, if one should sue pure un-composted dragon dung as a fertilizer, its intense chemical concentration will immediately engulf the entire plant in flames. Reports have also been heard of plants mutating into toxic spore-emitting trees only destructible by dragon fire.