Harry Potter Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Harry Potter Wiki

"Many students have tried to describe the distinct odour of Stinksap, but its foulness is difficult to articulate."
Pomona Sprout[src]

Stinksap was a magical green fluid that smelt like rancid manure[1] and was contained in some plants like Mimbulus mimbletonia, as well as certain trees.[2] The Mimbulus mimbletonia plant used it as a defensive mechanism when touched,[1] while Stinksap itself could be used to nurse ill animals.[2]

History[]

During the 16th century, a mishandling of a crop of Mimbulus mimbletonia caused a 'tsunami' of Stinksap to fill one of the corridors at Hogwarts. This corridor would later be known as the infamous Pungent Passage.[3]

The Sunset Final Edition of The New York Ghost published on 1 December 1926 revealed that Stinksap extract was found in a best-selling toothpaste.[4]

StinksapHM

A pool of Stinksap

During the 1986–1987 school year, Stinksap was covered in third-year Herbology class. Students were reminded by Professor Pomona Sprout about wearing nose plugs before beginning the process. During the class, Jacob's sibling wondered if anyone died from smelling Stinksap. After the class, Professor Sprout asked the students to refrain from touching anything, and to bathe for at least ninety minutes to remove the stench. Jacob's sibling thought that Stinksap smelled like warm cheese wrapped in a sweaty gym sock.[5]

"Liquid squirted from every boil on the plant, thick, stinking, dark-green jets of it; they hit the ceiling, the windows, and spattered Luna Lovegood’s magazine. Ginny, who had flung her arms up in front of her face just in time, merely looked as though she was wearing a slimy green hat, but Harry, whose hands had been busy preventing the escape of Trevor, received a face full. It smelled like rancid manure."
— The results of prodding a Mimbulus Mimbletonia plant[src]
Mimblus

The Mimbulus Mibletonia plant, which contains Stinksap

On 1 September, 1995, Neville Longbottom showed his recently-acquired Mimbulus mimbletonia to his classmates on the Hogwarts Express. In order to demonstrate its defensive mechanism, Neville prodded the plant, which covered the whole compartment in Stinksap. Harry Potter was covered in it (with as much as a mouthful), Ginevra Weasley blocked herself in time, and Luna Lovegood's issue of The Quibbler was dirtied. Ginny used the Scouring Charm to clean up the mess.[1]

In 1996, Aragog, leader of the Forbidden Forest Acromantula colony, fell ill. In an attempt to nurse the Acromantula back to health, Rubeus Hagrid extracted Stinksap from a cluster of trees found en route to Hogsmeade. Hagrid later administered the Stinksap, but was ultimately unable to heal the ailing Aragog, who later died.[2]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 10 (Luna Lovegood)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Mentioned on the Half-Blood Prince script released on the Warner Bros. Awards website
  3. Hogwarts Legacy (Wizard's Field Guide Page)
  4. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film) (see this image)
  5. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 3, Chapter 4 (Filching from Filch) - Herbology Lesson "Stinksap"
Herbology
Pottedmandrake
Herbologists
Astrid Cole · Clifford Cromwell · Marmaduke Dale · Blossom Degrasse · Miranda Goshawk · Alfred Lawley · Olgae Marinus · Beaumont Marjoribanks · Nepali wizard · Gethsemane Prickle · Sanjay Shanker · Selina Sapworthy · Phyllida Spore · Yubert Thorne · Tilden Toots · Hadrian Whittle · Winogrand
Herbology at Hogwarts
Herbology Award · Herbology Lesson Cup · Herbology Race Cup · Herbology Store · Hidden Herbology Corridor
Greenhouses One · Two · Three · Four · Five · Six · Seven · Professor's office
Professors Mirabel Garlick's predecessor · Mirabel Garlick · Herbert Beery · Pomona Sprout · Neville Longbottom
Textbooks Flesh-Eating Trees of the World · Ingredient Encyclopedia · One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi · Winogrand's Wondrous Water Plants
Plants studied and grown at Hogwarts
Aconite · Alihotsy · Asphodel · Belladonna · Bouncing Bulb · Bubotuber · Bubotuber pus · Chinese Chomping Cabbage · Cowbane · Dandelion · Devil's Snare · Dirigible Plum · Dittany · Fanged Geranium · Fat cactus-like plant · Fire seed bush · Flitterbloom · Floo · Flutterby bush · Fluxweed · Gillyweed · Ginger · Greenhouse Tree · Hemlock · Honking daffodil · Ivy · Knotgrass · Lady's Mantle · Lavender · Leaping Toadstool · Lovage · Mandrake · Mimbulus mimbletonia · Mistletoe · Moly · Nettle · Peppermint · Puffapod · Raspberry · Rose · Sage · Screechsnap · Scurvy grass · Self-fertilising shrub · Shrivelfig · Snargaluff · Sneezewort · Sopophorous plant · Sopophorous Bean · Spiky Bush · Spiky Prickly Plant · Stinksap · Sugar Shrub · Toad-eating plant · Tormentil · Umbrella Flower · Valerian · Vampiric vegetation · Venomous Tentacula · Walking plant · Wax vegetables · Whomping Willow · Wiggentree · Wild rice · Wormwood
Spells taught in Herbology at Hogwarts
Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Herbivicus Charm (Herbivicus) · Incendio Duo Spell (Incendio Duo) · Lumos Solem Spell (Lumos Solem) · Severing Charm (Diffindo)
Advertisement