Rhott

Rhott is a weed-like plant that grows in Castaponda, especially on the banks of river Daleron, between the kingdoms of Arcodde and Uline. It has small, pale green, almost turquoise leaves shaped like hearts. Their surface is velvety, but not thick. Rhott flowers only once a year, in the summer heat, and its flowers are tiny, blue, sweetly fragrant, and wither away in a couple of weeks.
Before its other properties were discovered, rhott was used mainly for its fragrance. People would gather the tiny flowers, dry them, and mix them with lavender and chamomile in small, fragrant satchels.
The seers of Arcodde were the first who tried to make tea out of rhott leaves and, although it was at first faced with scepticism, soon it became quite common to drink rhott-tea in the evening. The first taste is very bitter, but the after-taste is sweet and spicy, and leaves one relaxed and content. The court physicians of Arcodde slowly discovered its more medicinal properties, and used it frequently - occasionally mixed with other ingredients - to relieve their patients from nausea, vomiting, headaches and insomnia. The roots are said to increase fertility, but these claims have little evidence - not that it ever stopped aspiring parents from consuming them in large quantities.
Later, people tried to smoke the dried rhott leaves, an experiment that led to a very successful export enterprise, especially towards Bondye and Indice. The smoking of rhott leaves induces euphoria, relaxation, and a state of acute consciousness. When taken together with alcohol or other substances, it can induce mild or not-so-mild hallucinations. It is no wonder that this expensive luxury is so common among the nobility and the upper merchant class - as well as in certain pleasure establishments. It is more of a wonder that the smoking of rhott leaves has escaped the peasants of Arcodde who have the plant at their grasp.