Lily and Petunia

[rcraigharman at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27954

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Rowena Grunnion-Ffitch 
<rowena_grunnion_ffitch at y...> wrote:
> --- rcraigharman at h... wrote:
> > Nightshades and petunias are solanaceous plants [family
> > Solanaceae], which includes the nightshades, tobacco, ground
> > cherry, tomato, eggplant, red pepper, etc.  Not all nightshades
> > are poisonous.
> > 
> > Lilies are in the family Liliaceae, which includes
> > onions, garlics, lilies, and numerous other plants.
> 
> My God, that's even better! Petunia is allied to poisons, (deadly
> nightshade and tobacco) while Lily is associated with a powerful
> protective plant, (garlic). You don't suppose JKR did that on
> purpose do you?

Given everything else that she seems to have put into the books,
it's possible, but then again, it could just be a clever resonance.

After all, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants aren't poisonous.  And
while you've classified tobacco as a poison, it actually has
medicinal use for bruises and contusions primarily in veterinary
medicine, although this use has faded somewhat in modern times.

I wouldn't doubt that the lily family has some poisonous species,
and as I said, the nightshade family is hardly all poisonous.  In
fact, I remember reading in one of my sources that the nightshade
family is a cornucopia of profitable plant species (or words to
similar effect).  So, I don't think the associations are necessarily
quite that facile....

....Craig