Plants
Herbology Nineteen years later

Gillyweed

"You has to eat this, sir! ... Right before you go into the lake, sir - Gillyweed! ... It will make Harry Potter breathe underwater, sir!"
-- Dobby (GF26)

Gillyweed

Gillyweed is a water plant native to the Mediterranean which looks like a bundle of slimy, greyish-green rat tails, and has magical properties that allow its consumer to breathe underwater. When eaten, it gives a person gills to breathe underwater and webbed hands and feet for swimming. It also causes other fish-like qualities such as lack of blinking and low water temperature adaptation. The duration of the effect is approximately one hour (GF26). If Gillyweed is eaten above water, the sensation of the effect feels “as though an invisible pillow [is] clapped over [your] nose and mouth”. It is very rubbery and difficult to chew (GF26).

Commentary

Etymology

"Gill" = a breathing organ found in many aquatic organisms

Notes

In the film, the book Crouch Jr gives to Neville is called "Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs" and Neville, not Dobby, gives Harry the Gillyweed (GF/f).

Pensieve (Comments)

Tags: breathing discoveries green grey help plants stealing underwater water

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