Flowers and Herbs

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Notations and Explanations

While the flowers and herbs listed may bare resemblence in name, function, and physical description, the information on this page is not applicable to the real world and should not be treated as such.

The entries here are not all that exist in Nyxheim, simply the ones that have entries. More may be added, 2 weeks, etc.

Variations may not exist.

Referred to as common names

Common Knowledge

Flowers

Ellie's Star

Ellie's Star is considered a common meadow flower, and to many established farmers and gardeners, a terrible terrible wildflower due to the near impossibility of eliminating a plant once it has its roots. Despite this, many isolated villages will let the flower grow freely due to its relative harmlessness (it does not require many nutrients and does not leech off of crops) and a fondness for the story for which it is named.

Many villages in Kyrheim are familiar with the folktale associated with this flower. The story goes that a little girl named Ellie wandered into the woods surrounding her village one summer afternoon instead of pulling the yellow wildflowers from the fields. She did not return by nightfall and lost her way in the woods. Terrified, the little girl followed her only source of light on the cloudy night, the glowing star-shaped flowers that grew in her village's fields. The glow was enough that she could see it through the forest, and it led the little girl home.

Description

Ellie's Star is a taproot flower, with its roots double the length of the average green twenty centimeter stalk. The blooms are about three to five centimeters in diameter and feature a distinctly bright yellow color and five-petalled star shape. The leaves are small with long thin petioles attaching them to the stalk, which is about a half centimeter at the base. The flower produces a powdery orange pollen referred to as Ellie's Dust, or Star Dust that, carried by wind, can travel quite far. One unique aspect of Ellie's Star is its ability to pollinate any species of flower. However, these flower mutations are absolutely always yellow in color, but retain the other plant's form. These plants themselves are sterile, and are referred to as Ellie Dusters. At night after the buds have blossomed, the flowers of the plant will emit a bright iridescent glow. The flowers do not glow once picked.

Growth Patterns, Location, Availability

This flower begins to pop up out of late February snows and blooms in mid May. Its infamous pollen commences circulation in late June, and ceases with the bloom's death in early to mid July. The entire plant succumbs to decay by the end of August, but will regrow indefinitely as long as the taproot, or at least a good portion of it, remains in the ground. During the winter, the roots grow or regrow as necessary, and by the time the first bit of green shows in February, the roots have already matured. This flower is often found in meadows and fields, but can also be found in forests and wooded areas. It is considered quite common.

Uses

Yellow Dye: The blooms, especially when pollinating, are processed for their color to be used as dyes both in domestic settings and industrial.

Heartsease

A common wildflower, Heartsease has been used in herbal remedies predating Nyxheim and persisted as a jack-of-all-cures since the early years of the world.

Description

Heartsease

The flower grows to about 15cm in height and sports purple, white, blue or yellow flowers. A rare plant will feature black blooms and red stems.

Growth Patterns, Location, Availability

Heartsease begins its growth in late february and blooms by early April. The flowers stay until mid autumn and with winter the entire plant succumbs to the cold. The flowers are most often found in meadows and fields, but are particularly fond of shade tress provide. Heartsease can be found in all realms, but is most common in Kyrheim and least common (reaching rarity) in Ravenheim.

Uses

Stabilization: During the medical revolution, Heartsease was incoroporated into many processed drugs for stablization.

Cancer: Although experimentation is limited, several pharmaceutical minds are working together to prove that Heartsease can be used as a treatment for cancer.

Food Source: Containing antioxidents and a decent amount of fiber, Heartsease is perfectly edible for all creatures.

Dyes: The flowers themselves can be used to make yellow, green and blue dyes.

Cleansing: A diet consisting primarily of Heartsease and water will cleanse the body of wretched toxins, making Heartsease a popular antidote to common poisons and intoxications.

Anti-Microbiotics: An extract from the plant is commonly used in anti-microbiotics. The plant itself can also be used for the same purpose to a lesser effect.

Death Imitation: Only the black blooms of Heartsease have been proven to have the ability to stop one's heart with the absolute promise of recovery. On average, after ingesting the plant, an average sized man will stay in a death-like state for about sixteen hours but varies per person and race. No bodily harm comes to the person while under the frozen existence of the black Heartsease, butthere is no way to reverse the effects in advance. The death imitation is perfect, and there is no way to tell the difference between this state and true death.

Expert Knowledge

Flowers

Foxglove (Graveyard Bells, Ghost Bells)

The Foxglove Flower has the appearance of bells, and is known to be completely poisonous, thus the nicknames of Graveyard and Ghost Bells in addition to growing upon recent graves. Some superstitions claim that when the wind rustles Foxglove "bells," the dead are trying to communicate. Foxglove is associated with insincerity.

Description

Foxglove

A foxglove plant consists of 3 to 5 basal leaves, a stalk that can range between 30 and 130 cm when fully grown, and oblong bell shaped flowers of a purple, pink, gray or white color with varying markings per plant. The seeds are rusty orange with black spots.

Growth Patterns, Location, Availability

In the first year of growth, only the basal leaves and stalk will emerge. In the second year of growth, the flowers and additional leaves will bloom and the plant will produce seeds. After the second year, the plant dies. It blooms in July.

Foxglove can be found in numerous places, but rarely grows in large numbers in a singular location. The most common place to find Foxglove is recently disturbed ground, whether an abandoned construction site, cleared farmland or burnt ground. However, Foxglove can be found in most terrains whether forest or rocky plain and can survive a shocking degree of temperatures.

Foxglove can only be found in Ariaheim.

Use s

Medicinal: For the past fifty years, pharmaceuticals have taken advantage of Foxglove's cardiac effects and have focused their attention to an extract named Fox Chance. Fox Chance is used to regulate heart rate, but an overdose slows and supresses heart rate and causes a sensation of sleepiness. If the overdose is too extreme, it can cause heart failure. Fox Chance is administered via injection and used to treat a wide variety of heart conditions.

Poison: All parts of the Foxglove plant are poisonous to all living creatures except the fae, with the highest potency in the tips of the newest leaves at the top of the stem. Ingestion of any part of the plant will suppress and eliminate heart rate within minutes, causing a person's heart to simply stop. A plant retains its poisonous nature in all forms, whether cooked, dried, or growing. The plant has a bitter taste.

Fae Warnings: An irritated fae may leave a Foxglove flower as a warning to the one that bothered it, but such claims lack any proof as a fae has never been seen to leave such a warning.

Phoenix Flower (Ash Bloom)

Rough sketch of a Phoenix Flower, petal and seed not to scale.

Referred to as the Ash Bloom for its constant rebirth from its own ashes, the Phoenix Flower holds a place among the legendary for being so difficult to find intact in nature. The flowers have held the attention of many researchers trying to harness the bloom's volatility for themselves, while only actual Phoenixes have been known to attain the blooms intact without dificulty. Legend has it that if a Phoenix ingests a Phoenix Flower, all of its powers are significantly amplified depending on the age of the bloom, and that the power never fades.

Description

The Phoenix Flower is a tall trio of stalks about three-quarters of a meter high. The base of each stalk is roughly 10cm, tapering off to about half a centimeter at the base of the bloom. The flower itself is a fiery orange-red color with twelve narrow, feathery petals, usually streaked with yellow. The plant has no leaves, but sharp centimeter long thorns up the stalks, and many vines spreading from the base. These vines have been known to grow to great lengths and thicknesses, occasionally overtaking other shrubs, trees, and even manmade structures. These vines will burst into flame through even the slightest friction and simply cannot be touched without the entire plant bursting into flame, with the only exception of the last few centimeters. The tips are immune to the plant’s volatility, and also contain the plant’s seeds.

Growth Patterns, Location, Availability

The Phoenix Flower grows at remarkable rates, gaining one to three centimeters a day in the stalks, and several meters a day with each tendril. However, due to the tendrils’ rather volatile response to irritation, finding a full grown Phoenix Flower is rare if not nearly impossible. The only photographs of these flowers were taken in labs where the flowers were specially contained. A single seed exists in the tip of each vine, a flat and narrow black shell. When the plant bursts into flame these tendrils remain, and from them new plants will grow. Phoenix Flowers are almost always found in barren lands of any realm. Should one begin to grow in a forest, something as simple as a falling leaf or animal dropping could set the entire forest ablaze. For this reason, many small Phoenix flowers, without blooms, are generally found within close proximity to each other, but never any other plants around them. Animals are discouraged to touch the plant by a distinctly sulfuric smell, especially in the ashes remaining after a burning. The seeds regrow after a period of three weeks within the mother plant’s own ashes.

Uses

Increasing Fire Magic Potential: Like an energy drink for fire magic, the Phoenix Flower’s seeds pack a powerful punch. Although unusable for seven days after being burned from the plant, there is a three week time period between when the seeds are separated from the mother plant, and when they take root. Once they take root, the seeds are no longer useful in increasing fire magic potential.

Medicinal: The blooms of the Phoenix Flower are said to possess a nectar that could act as a cure all for all mortal creatures, including mortality. Scientific experiments on the plants have not yet been successful, and the only testimony available for this possibility is the story of an old man from Howldon who claimed to have found the flower and used it to cure his ailing wife of an unknown disease. While the man has passed on, the wife remains and testifies in his place. She has not aged a day since she has been given the flower, over a century from present day.

Rose

In the old world, there was said to be many kinds and sizes and colors of roses, but in Nyxheim there is only four: the Red Rose, the Sweet Rose, the Plight Rose, and the Snow Rose.

Red Rose Description

A pink Red Rose bush

Despite its name, the Red Rose grows in various shades from warm reds, oranges and yellows to pinks, whites and the occasional magenta hue. Purely domesticated in the early first century, these roses grow in large upright bushes between 1 and 2 meters high. The stems of each flower is coated in a prickly layer of thorns, a trait no amount of breeding has managed to erradicate. The leaves retain a dark earthy shade of green and come to points at the tips of each leaf.

A pink Sweet Rose bush

Sweet Rose Description

Named such for its distinctly oversweet scent, the Sweet Rose only grows in faint shadws of pink and orange. Sweet Roses are identical to Red Roses save their minature size. The blooms are about 1 to 3 centimeters in diameter. The bushes rarely exceed 35-40 centimeters and are found primarily in wild settings. Sweet Roses are not typically found at market, although they can be potted and treated like any other houseplant. While exact records are uncertain and unreliable, many speculate the Red Rose originate from a Sweet Rose cousin.

A pink Plight Rose

Plight Rose Description

The Plight Rose is a prickly flower with five petals. Its colors are dark, purples, pinks, reds and rarely blues, but predominantly black. While similar to the Snow Rose, it is distinguishable through its more predominant center and darker petal colors. It grows in bushes of about three-quarters of a meter with 2cm leaves in small clusters. The blooms are 2-4cm across. The thorns up the stems vary in size but cover the entire surface. Most thorns are hooked.

A faintly blue Snow Rose

Snow Rose Description

Similar to the Plight Rose, the Snow Rose is a five-petalled bloom with nearly identical plant structure. It grows in bushes of three-quarters of a meter in height with 3cm long leaves and 2-4 cm blooms. Snow Roses are only pale pinks, blues and whites with small yellow centers. The thorns on the Snow Rose are darker in color, at times taking on deep red and purple hues. They are stark against the light green plants at nearly 1cm in length.

Growth Patterns, Location, Availability

The Red Rose grows domestically throughout Nyxheim, blooming for the first time in its third year, and for every year afterwards.

The Sweet Rose is a wild flower that grows only in Kyrheim. It blooms for the first time in its second year, and for every year afterwards. It can be found in varied landscapes from fields to forests, but requires adequate sunlight and plenty of water.

The Plight Rose is found more often in urban settings than anywhere else, growing up between sidewalk cracks and in the shadows of great buildings. It is a hardy plant that requires little sun and water. It will, however, dominate over other plants and will cause competition to wither. The Plight Rose is found only in Ravenheim.

The Snow Rose is both wild and domestic, but grows only in the winter months. It flourishes in snows by soaking up the reflected sunlight, and blooms each year around the middle of January. It requires cold and wet climates, and all attempts to domesticate the Snow Rose have failed. It may only be found in Ariaheim.

Lilac (Lie Lack)

Also referred to as Syringa by more scholastic onversationalists, Lilac is a common flower with little known affect. Lilac is often associated with both Love and Rebirth.

A medium color Lilac flower

Description

Lilac trees grow to a maximum height of between 2 and 10 meters with stems between 15 and 25 centimeters wide. The leaves are heart shaped, encouraging the "love" symbolism associated with the flower. The actual Lilac takes a purple color in varying shades and grows in a panicle, or conical branching shape. The fruit is a brown capsule containing winged seeds.

Growth Patterns, Availability, Location

Lilac grows only where there is a strong magical presence, no matter the realm. In such areas, it is a common enough shrubbery. Lilac will first flower about four years after first breaking earth and continue to flower until the end of its days in spring and summer. Lilac trees are considered full grown at two meters, but will continue to grow steadily until between 8 and 10 meters, and then will continue to grow in girth.

Uses

Fragrances: Lilac produces a popular and recognized scent that has been capitalized upon in the form of perfurmes, soaps, and incense.

Truthful Lie Inducement: When the fruit of the Lilac is ingested, it has a magical property related to the perception of truth. A person will not recognize the affects of the fruit, and will continue to speak truths or lies as is typical for that individual. However, whatever that person speaks, they will act out as truth. In example, if a woman lies to her husband about having an affair while under the influence of the Lilac fruit, she will cease to have an affair and completely forget about such an affair having existed. The fruit will wipe the memory, and make her lie a truth.

Aesthetics: Lilac is used commercially as a garden and lawn tree, but it is difficult to keep Lilac trees alive if magic is not a lingering presence.

Passiflora

Description

Growth Patterns, Availability, Location

Uses

Nonflowering Plants

Berry Plants

Kreckle Berry Bush

Description

The Kreckle Bush is a vert dry plant, consisting of as little as 40% water at any given time during the plant's lifetime. The majority of the moisture is stored in the plant's stems and berries, with the least amount retained in the leathery leaves the bush is infamous for. Kreckle Bushes grow to about a meter in height and can be several meters in diameter, surviving on very little water but plenty of sun. The berries are small and dark, with a thick layer of fleshy skin and a fibrous and bitter watery inside. The leaves themselves are paper thin, but razor edged and triangular in shape. The stems and leaves are a dul green color, with the leaves verging on an olive brown.

Growth Patterns, Location, Availability

A Kreckle Bush takes twelve years to fully mature, after which the leaves begin to produce a toxin called Olsagyn, and the leaves begin to darken from the same dull green color of the stems to its olive brown. The berries are produces as early as the fourth year, but the plant must be able to draw enough water to produce them. Kreckle Bushes are found predominantly in Kyrheim, but have observed all over Nyxheim. The plant used to be wild, but has been domesticated for the commercial purpose of producing Kreckle, a hallucinogenic and adrenaline producing drug.

Uses

Drug (Kreckle): Once the leaves have matured, they can be ground into a powdery substance named like the bush. Kreckle is snorted and provides an unusually violent high for several hours on very little substance. Kreckle causes the consumer to experience a brief feeling of bliss, generally lasting about three minutes after snorting. Then, the consumer will crash violently and will be reduced to frantic paranoia and severe overproduction of adrenaline. These two symptoms coupled causes the consumer to be irrationally violent and panicked, attacking anything that poses any sort of threat - or even none at all. Persons under the affects of Kreckle are compared to enraged animals, acting purely on instinct to protect only themselves. The affects wear off after about an hour, depending on the amount consumed and the size of the consumer, and then causes the consumer to feel equally irational guilt, sometimes for days at a time. This guilt is the result of the actions taken while under the influence of Kreckle that the consumer would not have normally committed, even if the acts were not emotionally distressing. Many individuals reported and exhibited increased strength while using Kreckle, and felt more powerful and infuential in their surroundings despite the inherent paranoia. Kreckle is considered a hallucinogenic because the targets of the consumer are generally distorted in that consumer's mind. If a mother attacked her child while under the influence of Kreckle, she would not see her child, but some other threatening monster,

Old Man's Clutch

A popular flower to be buried with the remains of men, particularly aged and wisened men, Old Man's Clutch is a flower of folklore and fancy in addition to its practical usage to ward of ill-intended spirits of the dearly departed.

Description

A rather plain plant, Old Man's Clutch consists of a growth of thin stalks about a 15 centimeters high with small dark blue flowers. The plant blooms in April and lasts through any hardship the summer months have to offer until the first frost withers them. The flowers are star shaped with five petals and a streak of pale yellow down the center of each petal with the size of a thumb nail.

Growth Patterns, Availability and Location

Uses

Herbs

Rosemary

Description

Availability, Growth Patterns, Location

Uses

Focus: Rosemary enhances concentration and cognitive functions in the short term, while when used over a long period of time it can permanently increasy long term memory and hasten recall.

Culinary