By: Priestess of The Great Mother Irimis Thedan
OOC Note: Is not complete due to time it takes, but would be a complete list n done for time being using most of this lore: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Plants
As well some ic perspective spin and narrative with likely other sources as I complete the book. Wo please bare with me as I type out a whole book.
"To my beloved daughter whose lose fills me with such sorrow, yet aspiration to strive to better my craft. Bellow is one of her favorite quotes she would say while tending our garden"
THE SECRETS
ARE IN
THE PLANTS
TO ELICT THEM
YOU HAVE
TO LOVE THEM
ENOUGH.
Ab'i was a plant that grew in the High Desert of Zakhara. Description:
Viewed from the surface, ab'i looked like tall brown grass. The succulent blood red tubers of this plant lay around 3 feet (0.9 meters) underground. These tubers were edible and contained up to a gallon (3.8 liters) of fresh water.
Alders were a type of tree that could be found in the Realms. Description:
With a few exceptions, alders are deciduous, and the leaves are alternate, simple, and serrated. The flowers are catkins with elongate male catkins on the same plant as shorter female catkins, often before leaves appear; they are mainly wind-pollinated, but also visited by bees to a small extent. These trees differ from the birches in that the female catkins are woody and do not disintegrate at maturity, opening to release the seeds in a similar manner to many conifer cones.
Ecology:
Alders are commonly found near streams, rivers, and wetlands. Sometimes where the prevalence of alders is particularly prominent these are called alder carrs.
Alder leaves and sometimes catkins are used as food by numerous butterflies and moths.
Habitats:
In Cormanthor, alders grew in the midwood area of the forest.[1]
In the Unapproachable East, alders were common across the nation of Aglarond, especially near the rivers and marshlands of the Yuirwood.They were also cultivated on tree plantations in Thay, where they were harvested by slaves.
Uses:
The catkins of some alder species have a degree of edibility, and may be rich in protein. Reported to have a bitter and unpleasant taste, they are more useful for survival purposes. The wood of certain alder species is often used to smoke various food items such as coffee, salmon, and other seafood.
Alder bark contains the anti-inflammatory. Some herbalists use it to treat poison oak, insect bites, and skin irritations. Blackfeet Indians have traditionally used an infusion made from the bark of red alder to treat lymphatic disorders and tuberculosis.
The inner bark of the alder, as well as red osier dogwood, or chokecherry, is used in smoking mixtures to improve the taste of the bearberry leaf.
As a hardwood, alder is used in making furniture, cabinets, and other woodworking products.
Alder bark and wood (like oak and sweet chestnut) contain tannin and are traditionally used to tan leather.
A red dye can also be extracted from the outer bark, and a yellow dye from the inner bark.
Alfalfa, also known as lucerne, was a type of plant in the Realms that was cultivated for hay or grain. It had a distinctive sweet smell.
Description:
The plant superficially resembles clover, especially while young, when trifoliate leaves comprising round leaflets predominate. Later in maturity, leaflets are elongated. It has clusters of small purple flowers followed by fruits spiralled in 2 to 3 turns containing 10–20 seeds.
Availability:
In Cormyr, alfalfa was one of the grains that filled fields across the nation that spanned hundreds of acres. Including Kirinwood.
In the Moonshae Isles, alfalfa was grown on the island of Snowdown.
Alfalfa could be found in the Vast, where businesses such as Norge Greenbank's Horses fed them to horses.
In the Blade Kingdoms, lucerne was collected and kept as cattle and horse feed.
Ecology:
Alfalfa normally lives four to eight years, but can live more than 20 years, depending on variety and climate. The plant grows to a height of up to 1 metre (3 feet 3 inches), and has a deep root system, sometimes growing to a depth of more than 15 m (49 ft) to reach groundwater. Typically the root system grows to a depth of 2–3 m (7–10 ft) depending on subsoil constraints.
Alfalfa is a small-seeded crop, and has a slowly growing seedling, but after several months of establishment, forms a tough "crown" at the top of the root system. This crown contains shoot buds that enable alfalfa to regrow many times after being grazed or harvested; however, overgrazing of the buds will reduce the new leaves on offer to the grazing animal.
This plant exhibits autotoxicity, which means it is difficult for alfalfa seed to grow in existing stands of alfalfa. Therefore, alfalfa fields are recommended to be rotated with other species (for example, corn or wheat) before reseeding.
Usages:
Centaurs were known to sometimes eat either fresh or dried alfalfa.
Some used alfalfa in the crafting of alchemical powders for curing nausea or paralysis.
Many used it as Cattle Feed
Allium plants were curative herbs found in the Malatran jungles
Description:
Allium was a hardy onion-like root vegetable plant that reached 0 feet and 12 inches (0.3 meters) in length. It was commonly found on the Malatran Plateau as well as the desert of Anauroch. Both root bulb and long green asparagus-like spears were edible and possessed curative properties. Even when dead, allium plants retained their properties, as was evident by them never rotting nor breeding any fungus nor molds. When eaten whole, it protected the imbiber from poisons and diseases, or it reduced the duration of such afflictions.Allium was a hardy onion-like root vegetable plant that reached 0 feet and 12 inches (0.3 meters) in length. It was commonly found on the Malatran Plateau as well as the desert of Anauroch. Both root bulb and long green asparagus-like spears were edible and possessed curative properties. Even when dead, allium plants retained their properties, as was evident by them never rotting nor breeding any fungus nor molds. When eaten whole, it protected the imbiber from poisons and diseases, or it reduced the duration of such afflictions.[1][2]
Inhabitants of Anauroch, both humanoids and beasts, consumed allium as a good source of always precious water.
Inhabitants of Anauroch, both humanoids and beasts, consumed allium as a good source of always precious water.
1. Template:Cite book/Shadows of Sin Treasure Certificates
2. Ed Greenwood (November 1991). Anauroch. Edited by Karen S. Boomgarden. (TSR, Inc.), p. 40. ISBN 1-56076-126-1.
Aloe vera plants were tropical curative herbs found in the Malatran jungles.
Description:
Juice of aloe vera plants could be easily extracted from the leaves and used as a topical ointment. The juice protected the user's skin from irritation. This plant also allowed creatures like lizardfolk to keep their skin wet longer without daily baths.
An apple was a fruit from the perennial plant of the same name, typically suited to cool weather.
Description:
Apples grown from seed tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. Generally, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and the size of the resulting tree, allowing for easier harvesting.
Rare Species:
Abyssal: apples were a type of apple that grew only in the Abyss.
Greenheart: large green-skinned cooking apples that could be found in Cormyr.
Kallamarn Catsheads: a strain of large green apples that were cultivated in the Cormyrian town of Kallamarn.
Arafaj were enchanted aquatic plants that grew on the surface of the Burning Pool of Natifa in the High Desert of west Zakhara.
Description:
These lanky plants resembled bundles of dry grass. Arafaj completely covered the surface water of the Burning Pool of Natifa. The plants burned continuously so long as they remained in contact with the pool regardless of weather conditions. Their illumination could be seen as far as 10 mi (16 km) away.
Arkas was a grass found on the fields of the ranchos in Dambrath.
Description:
Blades of arkas could grow between 3 to 4 ft. (0.9 – 1.2 m) tall.
Uses:
This hearty grass was used as feed for local livestock.[1] It was known within Dambrath, though secret outside the nation's borders, that feeding arkas to a young horse would contribute to its growth as a superior steed. This was notable in the domestic Dambrathan breed, the dambraii.