September 1894 - Journal written in greenhouse

Submitted for THIS homework assignment from Mason Skeeter

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The vampiric vegetation seeds I have selected look quite unassuming considering the vicious little plant they will hopefully turn into. They are blood red in colour and shaped roughly like blood drops that have been squashed on their side. Each seed weighs approximately four grains and I have five of them. They are planted in soil that has been sourced from the graveyard with the permission of the groundkeeper. I have named them, Vladimir, Bathory, Sith, Lamia and Stigoi.

My initial observations at the point are minimal but I noticed that sith had a small crack in the husk of the seed before planting. I could not see any evidence of a green shoot emerging so my hypothesis is that this particular seed will not be viable.

For the purpose of this project I would like to see whether the vampiric nature of the plants and the stories about them is true. To this end I have initially supplied each of the seeds with 1 cc of blood from the following sources.

Vladimir - rat
Bathomy - newt
Lamia - human (my own)
Sith and Strigoi shall remain as controls and be given only water.

The large planter has been placed as per the instructions given to me and has been protected from light. I will next check them in a week while I attend garden club.

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope

October 1894

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This is entry two of my vampiric vegetation study. It has been 28 days since I planted the seeds and have checked on them twice during that time without formal observations.

At day 28, four of the five seeds have germinated. Unfortunately, Sith has not broken the surface so I will hold to my hypothesis that the seed was damaged when planted. I will continue to monitor in case this changes.

Vladimir - 5/8 inch tall, one leaf beginning to develop
Bathomy - 4/8 inch tall, no leaf buds yet
Lamia.- 5/8 inch, two smaller leaves developing
Strigoi - 4/8 inch, one leaf developing
Sith - no growth

At this time the difference between the plants is very small, Vladimir seems to be a slightly lighter shade than his siblings but within natural colouration variation. I have repeated the feeding mixing in the same blood types as used on day one to each plant. As an aside observation to this, I have determined that jokes about slowly feeding yourself to a plant are considered less funny when shared at breakfast.

My next formal observations shall follow in four more weeks.

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope

November 1894

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Entry three - day 55

Measurements

Vladimir - 1 3/8 inch tall, two leaves, slight reddening in colour
Bathomy - 1 5/8 inch tall, one leaf and one small bud
Lamia.- 1 7/8 inch, three leaves, slight reddening, a shade darker than Vladimir
Strigoi - 1 3/8 inch, two leaves
Sith - no growth

The two plants that have been dosed with mammalian blood appear to be taking on a darker hue than the other plants and shifting to a more red colour. I have repeated the dosing to see if this transition continues but this may be the last blood meal given to the samples. Lahmia is growing with slightly more vigour than the rest. However, it is still difficult to tell whether this is due to any specific factor or simply natural variation. I am hoping that in either December or January I may begin to see teeth forming on at least one of the plants and I will make sure to have my dental tools ready for a thorough examination.

A wondering has crossed my mind that I did not initially consider. Perhaps a test with muggle blood would have been preferable as my own metamorphmagus blood may be an unplanned variable. I however am quite satisfied that externally sourced blood would be beyond the scope of this level of study and so I will not pursue this line of enquiry beyond discussion. I may however send correspondence to an expert horticulturalist to see if there is any other research on this factor.

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homework fao Mason Skeeter

  

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope

December 1894

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Entry four - day 84

Measurements

Vladimir - 2 1/8 inch tall, several leaves of a reddish colour, a single flower has formed but not opened
Bathomy - 2 5/8 inch tall, several leaves, plant is growing quickly but with less density
Lamia.- 3 inch, darker red than the other plants, several leaves, two buds and her first tooth
Strigoi - 2 2/8 inch, several leaves middling growth density
Sith - no growth

The plants appear to be growing well except Sith who I can confirm is dead at this point. The darkest of the plants and the one that seems to be thriving most is Lamia. She has one small tooth formed and I believe that gloves will be in order for any future examinations.

I have had a rewarding correspondence with a Miss Cordelia Emsworth regards the project and she believes that the blood, while not doing anything intrinsically to the plant, may be adding something to the soil. My hypothesis based on the work of F Hünefeld is that the red hemoglobin in my blood might by both nourishing and pigmenting the leaves of the plant. She also suggested that my metamorphmagus blood is unlikely to have any impact on the study. However, the more inquisitive part of me holds out hope of something peculiar that I might discover and call my own, so I have repeated the innoculation of each of the plants.

Regarding plant maintenance I have repotted each of the plants, maintianing the original soil but checking their roots. All appear healthy but Bathomy did have a small weevil growing between its roots which might explain the thinner growth compared to the other sample plants.

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homework fao Mason Skeeter

  

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope

January 1894

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Entry five - Day 110

Measurements

Vladimir - 3 2/8 inch tall, growing well, lovely foliage and one rather sharp tooth(see notes)
Bathomy - 3 6/8 has gained his first flower, removal of the weevil appears to have increased vigour
Lamia.- 4 3/8 inch, Dark red leaves seem well established, primary but are open and very active, one other bud is about to flower
Strigoi - 3 2/8 inch, plenty of leaves, one bud, some insect damage to leave, have applied insecticide to all specimens.
Sith - still dead

Each of my living specimens is beginning to flower and they are quite pleasant. In this regard, I believe I did not take the necessary care of using gloves as Vladimir surprised me with his vigour and helped himself to my right hand. However, I can use this incident to add further information to my study. I would compare the bite strength of the plant to that of a small cat with the capability to penetrate human skin but not the strength to remove tissue.

For the other plants, I wore gloves and was able to examine the teeth fairly well. The behaviour of the snapping plants all seems quite as predicted, Lamia seems to have the greatest vigour of the bunch due probably to the aforementioned haematological fertilisation.

All plants have survived transfer to their new pots and other than a little slug damage are alive and very well.

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homework for Mason Skeeter

  

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope