Magical Flora - Year 1
Plant life like you would never imagine!
The Magical World of Plants!
Flora is life! All that green stuff around you that you see every day but take for granted is actually helping keep you alive in many different ways! And what a crazy world it is out there!
What can I expect to learn the 1st year of Magical Flora?
Year 1 consists of all of the basics. We will discuss:
- What plants are
- Plant history
- The many ways plants can be used
- Everyday herbs and their uses
- Equipment needed to work with plants, both magical and mundane
- Common (fun!) magical plants
- Some dangers to consider when working with plants, as well as spells to help defend yourself
- What types of foods plants need
So what exactly is a plant?
Plants are any organism that can make its own food through a process called photosynthesis. This means that they take the light from the sun and water from the air and create sugars that keep the plant alive.
Sadly, mushrooms aren't included in this. Actually, they are more closely related to animals than they are plants. For the purpose of this class, mushrooms are part of the Magical Flora curriculum. Why? Because they work well with plants and are used in many of the same ways.
What do we cover?
Ancient times!
Let's talk about medicines used in Rome, China, Egypt, and other ancient civilizations. But let's not stop there! Let's talk about magical plants and the way they gained, lost, and regained popularity. Let's beat the Boogeyman back into the shadows with the story of the Winter Lilies.
Ebers Papyrus
Egyptian manuscript contained herbal remedies.
Winter Lily
De Materia Medica
Manuscript from Rome detailing hundreds of plants and their uses.
Who uses plants anymore?
How many mediums can you think of that are made of plants? Do you drink tea? How about put spices in food? Guess what--you're using plants!
But how many ways can plants be used in daily life? Our lesson discusses 4, but can you think of more?
A Medicine Cabinet in your Pantry and Garden!
I can't even begin to explain how many different uses plants have. Here are a few very common and useful herbs. Check out the lesson to see their uses!
Tools, tools, and more tools!
There are so many different tools available for gardening, and some of them are required for working with magical plants. Imagine working with a plant that bites you and ends up immobilizing you for an hour. Generally this isn't something that people want. So while some equipment and tools aren't necessary for every gardening project, others are essential in every project. What do you think would be completely necessary?
And what about pots? How many types of pots can you name?
Oh the magic!
There are so many great magical plants out there that it's hard to actually choose the best ones to introduce people to the world of flora. Here are four great, fun, and fairly harmless plants.
Spoad
No, this is not exactly what a Spoad looks like, but it's very similar! And I know I mentioned that mushrooms aren't technically plants, but for the sake of this class, they are!
Winter Lily
Remember earlier I mentioned this plant? One of its main uses is in a powdered form, where it was "thrown" by children at their night-time monsters so they could sleep knowing their enemies were also sleeping.
Winter Lily
Photographic example of a Winter Lily
Fiblia Vine
These plants can actually grow in a bush form or a vine, depending on whether they have things to latch onto. The flowers are bell-shaped and even have a clapper!
Giggling Water Fern
This is an accurate example of a Giggling Water Fern in full maturity. While in normal ferns those brown fronds are considered in the young stage, these are actually fully mature.
Giggling Water Fern
An example of a mature frond.
Plants are Dangerous!
There are a multitude of plants out there that are pretty vicious, both magical and mundane. We'll discuss the dangers of handling plants, as well as learn a few spells that will help when working in the garden to avoid getting hurt. But we aren't just learning them, we're actually going to put them to use!
Immobilizing Plants
Okay, okay. So this spell doesn't literally 'freeze' plants, but have you ever touched a plant when it was covered in ice? Does it move? Not really. This is essentially what the Immobilize Plant spell does.
Putting Out Fires
It is always good to know how to put out fires, especially when you're working with plants that might accidentally catch.
Lighting Fires
Herbologists and gardeners use fires to control growth, add fertility back to certain soils, and sometimes use them to burn weeds that they don't want anymore. This spell helps make it instant.
plants need food too!
Fertilizers come from many different places! The best ones? Animal poop. In the case of magical plants, fertilizer from magical animals is the thing to use. What kinds of magical fertilizer do you think there is? Find out in the lesson!
That's it!
Congrats, you got through Magical Flora year 1! The following years have much more fun to be had, with real-life knowledge all over the place.