<I>”Today, I found something curious growing amongst the clover, dandelion and deadnettle. There are numerous species of flower that are said to cause lycanthropy, many of which seem perfectly normal, even harmless at first glance. If I am correct, this is Antirrhinum Lupinotuum, commonly called the lycanthropus snapdragon. I so desperately wish to take a sample… but from what I’ve read, to pick one often results in contracting lycanthropy. I did, however, break off a leaf, with the assistance of a stick, and found that the sap is thick and sticky, and the flowers themselves gave off a rather unpleasant odor. I marked the location with a piece of red cloth, so I may easily find it again. I can only pray that no one is foolish enough to disturb it.

--Seamus”</I>

Now… I know what you’re thinking. “Snapdragons causing lycanthropy? How quaint, yet absolutely preposterous! Surely you jest, good miss!” However, I’m actually serious about that. While I made up the (Highly uninventive) name for this folkloric variety, Elliot O’Donnell’s book, currently published as <I>Werewolves around the World, </I> speaks of many different kinds of lycanthropus flowers (I did a piece about them here: http://nashoba-hostina.deviantart.c.....wers-205172800 ) and one of these flowers, supposedly located near the Balkan Penninsula, is described as being almost identical in size and shape to a yellow snapdragon. Given the location and description, personally, I think that the real flower may have been a variety of yellow monkshood, but I’m no botonist. However, in the folklore, there’s usually something about a lycanthropus flower that gives away what it is.. a bad smell, ikky sap, or even a glow! They’re sometimes found in damp places, and the method of using them varies too… sometimes you have ti pick it, sometimes you have to wear it, and in some cases, you might have to eat it.

As it turns out, however… snapdragon flowers are edible. <I> Edible & Medicinal Flowers</I>
by Margaret Joan Roberts have a few recipes for them, and personally, they’re not bad in salads. (Incidentally, deadnettle, red clover and dandelions aren’t bad either… but I wouldn’t recommend eating any unusual plants until you’ve done your research.)

But the big question is… Knowing what might happen, if you found a strange, snapdragon-like flower growing in the woods… would you pick it?

A few books with a little info on Lycanthropic flowers:

Charlotte Otten’s <I>A Lycanthropy Reader,</I>
Montegue Summer’s <I>Werewolf in Lore and Legend,</I>
Elliot O’Donnell’s <I>Werewolves Around the World,</I>
Konstantinos’s <I>Werewolves: The Occult Truth</I>
Georgess McHargue and Stephen Gamell’s <I>Meet The Werewolf</I>