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Herbology Lesson Three: Creating Hybrids Erikson set up his classroom, this time the beeping device was gone, though he still checked his watch periodically. Around the greenhouse were several different types of plants. Many of them were too young to do much, but the adult versions were in pictures behind them. Included were some spearmint and watermint plants, as well as the peppermint which rested below the table their 'parents' were on. |
Cassandra was the first student to walk in. She was always early for Herbology. She turned to Erikson and caught his eye. She blushed and turned her gaze to the table in the front row she usually sat at. Cassandra sat down, pulling parchment and quill out. "Morning..." she finally said. |
Amelia thought that she had been running late to Herbology, but was shocked to find only the Professor and one Slytherin girl there. She looked toward the Erikson and muttered "Good morning," as she turned and found her seat. Amelia sat down, and then politely turned to the Slytherin and smiled at her, "Good morning." |
Ali strolled into the Herbology classroom and took a seat. She pulled out her quill and other essentials and waited for the other students to arrive. |
Qaz entered and found a seat. She got out parchment and her quill and was ready to begin. |
Ari walked in, no expression on her face as she turned and sat down beside Amelia, giving her a small smile. There was nothing wrong with her, just the fact that she was having the worst day imaginable. She couldn't wit for the weekend, where she could finally relax. "Hello professor." she said half-hearddtly, then remembering to leave her problems on the door she threw a smile his way for good measure, determined to get through this lesson. Pulling out her quill, ink and parchment, she waited. |
Excelsior walked into the classroom and took a seat. He had enjoyed the last Herbology lesson greatly and was excited to be having a new one today. |
Jasmine entered the Herbology classroom and when she saw the peppermint plant she clapped her hands in delight. "Peppermint!" Smiling she gently lifted a tender leaf, "How do you do?" Turning to the professor with a smile, Jasmine said fondly, "That plant reminds me of Fred when he was that age." She then stepped closer to the professor,and tugged on his arm so she could whisper in his ear, "Professor Erikson, I need to talk to you when you get a chance. I have come upon some news of my family....and yours." Letting go of his arm, Jasmine stepped back, gave him a troubled gaze and found a seat in the front. |
Mystie came into the green house and saw the mint plants, oh I do hope we do a class on mint, she thought. She found a seat and sat down and waited for the class to start. |
Antwone shuffled into the greenhouse and waved to the professor. "Morning professor. Will we be making peppermint plants then?" |
Ryan entered the greenhouse, looking around interestedly. Taking off her jumper, she fastened it tightly around her waist. There were quite a few people in there, none of which she knew....except that Excelsior Black she had seemed to upset in Potions.... 'Hey,' she said warmly, walking up to him. 'I'm...erm...sorry, about what I was saying in Potions'. |
Excelsior turned and saw the girl from Potions, Ryan. "Hey, don't worry about it, I was having a pretty bad day myself," he told her. "You did nothing wrong, and I'm sorry if I gave you a bad impression." Excelsior did wonder about what had happened that day, that type of thing didn't usually happen to him, as he preferred to be very low key and get along with everyone. "Hey, this teacher is great, I'm sure it will be a good lesson. And you were absolutely right about the peanut butter." |
Hermy entered the classroom, grinning broadly. Her hair hung loosely round her shoulders, and her satchel was filled to the brim with books. She had definitely been to the library recently, with the majority of texts having titles relating to plants, potions and healing. Taking a seat at the centre of the classroom, Hermy wondered what the mint was for. She ws guessing it wasn't for the recipes in which she used the stuff from the garden at home. |
Ryan laughed. 'Having a bad day too?' she asked, sympathetically. 'It's been an awful week for me. Worst of my life. But I've never been to a Herbology lesson before. As long as there are no valuables I can trip over and break, I should be alright'. |
Ryan trudged into the Herbology greenhouse, ready for a lesson. He took note of the different minty plants on the professor's desk. Deciding he had looked long and hard enough, Ryan took a seat near his fellow Ravenclaws. |
Excelsior smiled. "I know the feeling," he said. "No worries, I think you'll be pretty safe in here." He found that he might actually like the girl once he got to know her. He got a sense that she was fun loving. |
Erikson walked around a bit, adjusting plants and greeting his students. Quote:
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He came back to the front of the classroom and looked everyone over. "Well, our final class of the term. It is now time to learn how to choose proper plants for hybrids, and actually get to create some from some of the more mature plants here." "Now, so I know what really needs to be covered, let's hear a little of what you know about the creation of hybrids." |
Ryan's mind was blank. All he could think of was his dad's lecture on biology when he was younger. "Professor?" Ryan's hand was in the air. "I'm not sure how much this applies to magical plants, but my dad is a Muggle Biochemist, and he used to talk to me about stuff like this. If I remember correctly, a hybrid is something that is created/produced when two..er..organisms of different or even same species of different traits reproduce. For example, in Muggle Biology, a man named Gregor Mendel conducted an experiement with flowers. He discovered, that often times, when he made a red flowered plant and a white flowered plant mate, a good portion of the offspring would be pink, which was otherwise unobtainable. It all has to do with genetics. Does the same go for magic?" Satisfied with his answer, Ryan waited for the Professor's response. |
ARiana had no clue as to how creation of Hybrids were done, she still didn't understand it, even when it was explained to her. She needed extra help in it, or else she's definitly fail, which she didn't want. She knew she could take a guess, but she would be humiliated if it were wrong, and ith her mind already full of other matters, she didn't think it would be much of a good guess. Instead, she sat there, her attention on the professor, her bronze eyes paying close attention to what was going on, her quill poised to write. Sighing, she decided to give it a shot." Um, is it something like cross pollinization?" she asked quietly, then rieterated, "I mean um, when you put one plant with another, there's a chance the result will be a hybrid of the two plants, like the Prppermint plant?" she stubled over her words, not having a clue. |
Sho sat down next to Antwone after examining a few of the plants around the greenhouse. He had heard about hybrid plants in muggle science class, so some of this was review. Though magical hybrids... that was another story. |
Jasmine raised her hand ,"Well, we learned that there are many different ways for a hybrid to be created through cross-pollinating and grafting. The purpose of these hybrids to produce improved plants, such as enhancing a certain resistance to heat\cold or to produce more fruit\seeds and even just to promote a specific color or size. The list goes on. We also know a little about calculating the probability of a successful hybrid, how genetics play a part, and about phenotypes and such too. Plus, we know that though there are many advantagers to hybridization, there are also problems that can occur such as sterility, like when a hybrid is created between two plants of a differing chromosome pair number, the offspring will have an odd number of chromozones, leaving them unable to produce chromosmally balanced gametes. Therefore, they would be sterile. However, I guess this could also be considered an advantage when producing seedless fruit and the like." Jasmine stopped to take a breath and realized she was rambling again. Slumping down in her seat she mumbled,"Respectively submitted, Jasmine Kavanaugh, Gryffindor." |
Ryan's hand shot up again. "Professor, in creating magical hybrids, is there any way to prevent genetic mutation, or, for that matter, to sway it exactly how we want it to happen? I'd like to know how far we, as magical folk, can actually venture against the laws of nature." |
"They're cross-bred, spliced together for creation," Antwone said, raising his hand. "They are created for various reasons but usually to fend of extinction, to create a stronger plant but in most cases the plant only becomes more weak and only has short-term effects. |
"The peppermint plant was one of the most successful and most memorable hybrids ever created," Excelsior commented. "There are many reasons for creating them, perhaps trying to find a new, better breed of a certain type of fruit, for example. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't." |
Rapunzel raised her hand from her seat beside her new Ravenclaw friend, Ryan. "There are many diffferent types of hybrids, such as interspecific, intra-specific, intergeneric, and interfamilial hybrids. There are also crosses between populations, breeds, or cultivars of a single species," she added, hoping her answer was correct. |
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