Mushrooms.
Introduction[]
Several interesting varieties of mushrooms can be cultivated and planted in the gardens of wizards, witches, and even Muggles. They can make excellent decorations, or even chairs and tables while giving a garden a distinctive style. Some will grow over time naturally, with the right conditions, while others need a painstakingly long amount of time and care. Here are a few mushrooms to get you started.
The Common Garden Mushroom[]
This mushroom is an ordinary beige-brown mushroom that perhaps is the most ordinary out of all the mushrooms and toadstools here. It grows with no reason, and often it grows alarmingly fast. It can even be grown in a Muggle garden. The mushroom is usually in any range of browns with pale splotches in either white or beige. When precipitation falls, often the mushroom expands rapidly, absorbing water. The size of mushrooms varies. The mushroom can be small, growing in clusters, or it can be very large: the cap can grow up to the size of a dinner plate! They are very firm with a slight spring to when pressed. Often, mushrooms of this variety and of large size are the favourite hiding places of gnomes.
Spotted Mushroom[]
The spotted mushroom is a garden mushroom that is usually of medium size. It also is very common in forests or woodlands. These are often confused with Fairy Caps (a red and white spotted mushroom that fairies inhabit) but there are a few significant differences, mainly the stems. The stems of Fairy Caps are white and hollow while the stems of a Spotted Mushroom are beige and spotted with white. Muggles cannot grow this type of mushroom; but however, more than a few have glimpsed it. They have often copied the mushroom and made a plastic garden decoration they think resembles the Spotted Mushroom. The Spotted Mushroom is in any range of red from dark red to bright red and has perfect circular white spots or in very rare cases, pink spots. Spotted mushrooms must usually be cultivated, as they usually do not grow by themselves in any garden. They require frequent watering, otherwise they will shrivel and die in a few weeks. They are soft and spongy and make excellent chairs or side tables in a garden if you can manage to grow large ones.
Horklumps[]
Horklumps are not technically toadstools not mushrooms, but they are a frequent and common garden pest, especially in the gardens of northern Europe. However, it does resemble a Furry Mushroom. It is pink and fleshy, covered with wiry black bristles sparsely distributed throughout its top. It also has sinewy tentacles that it sinks into the ground and it is a favourite food and considered a delicacy of gnomes. Horklumps can cover an average sized garden in a few days. Of course, these can only be found in the gardens of magical folk. Muggles have never even glimpsed them. The Horklump has no real discernible use.
Shimmer Shrooms[]
Shimmer Shrooms can be found deep within lush, green forests. They enjoy dark and damp conditions, and are often found littering the forest floor. The reason why Shimmer Shrooms are so aptly named is that the head of the mushroom shines with a soft glow whenever moonlight strikes the mushrooms. Hence, Shimmer Shrooms can only be found in places where the moonlight reaches the ground within the forest. One known place to find the Shimmer Shroom is the Silver Leaf Forest in Russia,
Shimmer Shrooms look like a common white mushroom when away from the moonlight, hence the only way to identify it would be to wait until the moonlight shines upon the mushroom. It can grow up to 2 inches in height and 1.5 inches wide. Be warned that although the Shimmer Shroom is not poisonous and can be eaten, it has some rather strange side-effects when ingested. One who eats a Shimmer Shroom will attain skin that shimmers under the moonlight for about 5 to 8 hours, depending on the amount eaten. As the Shimmer Shroom is rather small and non-descript, be careful not to crush them beneath your feet when searching for one.
Shimmer Shrooms are the favourite food for the glitterskin firebugs during mating season, as they contain an ingredient that allows the firebug's shell to sparkle more. The firebugs are known for their shiny shells and ability to burst into flames to scare off predators without harming themselves in the process. It is often speculated that the male firebug that sparkles the most will be able to mate with the strongest female of his choice.
The only potion that makes use of the Shimmer Shroom is the Chameleon Skin Potion, which allows one's skin to fade into the background just like a chameleon when applied. Its effects are somewhat rather similar to the Disillusionment Charm. However, the Shimmer Shroom should be picked on a full moon night, or as close to it as possible, to ensure the potency of the Chameleon Skin Potion.