Today’s plant was already sitting innocently on the bench as the class began to arrive, rather at odds with other floral, festive Valentine's decorations about the greenhouse today. Leda was grateful for the distraction, turning away from the plant. It looked not unlike a grey cactus, only with boils instead of spines to greet the class. The whole thing looked quite sickly and frankly unnerved her.
“Afternoon, kids, got something special for you today,” she said, motioning to the plant and having the class gather round once everyone had arrived. Unnerving or not, the plant had been hard to come by and Leda was excited to show it off.
“So,” Leda said once the class was gathered and quiet, “Any volunteers to touch it? I promise it won’t harm you,” Leda said, before nodding to one particularly bold student who’d volunteered. Stepping preemptively out of what was effectively the splash zone, Leda smiled glumly as the student touched the plant, resulting in it releasing a stream of vile stinksap. “And this is why we don’t touch anything when we don’t know what it is,” she said, trying not to breathe in too much before vanishing the stinksap as quickly as she could with a flick of her wand. “Ah well, nothing risked, nothing gained, 10 points for your trouble, Happy Valentine's,” she said to her poor volunteer, patting them gamely on the shoulder.
“For those of you who don’t know, this is a Mimbulus Mimbletonia, bit of a mouthful that, a rare plant from Assyria. It’s a member of the cactaceae family, so from the spine plants family, related to the muggle cactus. It’s most notable for its unique defensive mechanism, which is quite potent as we just witnessed. When prodded-” Leda smiled at her poor volunteer once again, “-It will spray out Stinksap from its boils here, which as you might recall, smells not unlike rancid manure. Stinksap, while I don’t recommend touching it if you can help it, is non-poisonous and usually dark green in color. If you need a reminder we could prod it again,” she offered, relenting with a laugh after a few vocal protests from the students.
“Native to arid climate, Mimbulus need dry soil and sunlight to really thrive. Supposedly a well cared for and calm Mimbulus make this cute little crooning sound, though it's arguable if the plant is actually sentient or it that's just an autonomous reaction to ideal conditions,” Leda hadn't heard this one coo yet, but they had been poking it a fair bit. Feeling the class had been subjected to enough of the mimbulus, Leda checked her watch, deciding to wrap up the lesson there. “That’s all for today unless anyone needs another round with the stinksap. Go, be free,” she said, shooing the class away and out of the greenhouse.
To receive an O:
- Roleplay the lesson
For additional credit:
- Volunteer to touch the plant
“Afternoon, kids, got something special for you today,” she said, motioning to the plant and having the class gather round once everyone had arrived. Unnerving or not, the plant had been hard to come by and Leda was excited to show it off.
“So,” Leda said once the class was gathered and quiet, “Any volunteers to touch it? I promise it won’t harm you,” Leda said, before nodding to one particularly bold student who’d volunteered. Stepping preemptively out of what was effectively the splash zone, Leda smiled glumly as the student touched the plant, resulting in it releasing a stream of vile stinksap. “And this is why we don’t touch anything when we don’t know what it is,” she said, trying not to breathe in too much before vanishing the stinksap as quickly as she could with a flick of her wand. “Ah well, nothing risked, nothing gained, 10 points for your trouble, Happy Valentine's,” she said to her poor volunteer, patting them gamely on the shoulder.
“For those of you who don’t know, this is a Mimbulus Mimbletonia, bit of a mouthful that, a rare plant from Assyria. It’s a member of the cactaceae family, so from the spine plants family, related to the muggle cactus. It’s most notable for its unique defensive mechanism, which is quite potent as we just witnessed. When prodded-” Leda smiled at her poor volunteer once again, “-It will spray out Stinksap from its boils here, which as you might recall, smells not unlike rancid manure. Stinksap, while I don’t recommend touching it if you can help it, is non-poisonous and usually dark green in color. If you need a reminder we could prod it again,” she offered, relenting with a laugh after a few vocal protests from the students.
“Native to arid climate, Mimbulus need dry soil and sunlight to really thrive. Supposedly a well cared for and calm Mimbulus make this cute little crooning sound, though it's arguable if the plant is actually sentient or it that's just an autonomous reaction to ideal conditions,” Leda hadn't heard this one coo yet, but they had been poking it a fair bit. Feeling the class had been subjected to enough of the mimbulus, Leda checked her watch, deciding to wrap up the lesson there. “That’s all for today unless anyone needs another round with the stinksap. Go, be free,” she said, shooing the class away and out of the greenhouse.
To receive an O:
- Roleplay the lesson
For additional credit:
- Volunteer to touch the plant
