She was said to have been the first to devise magical herbal potions, and used these magical concoctions to transform men into beasts, including the comrades of Odysseus, the Italian youth Pikos, and the nymph Skylla. Description : The Greeks did not distinguish between parsley and celery. Below are twenty flowers, whose names derive from, or are associated with, twenty, magical, sweet-smelling, Greek myths. Their tall cones ripen around October. The fir-cone was a symbol of the god's phallus. From birth to death, from innocence to passion, flowers have numerous interpretations and implications in myths and legends of ancient Greece. (Source: Apollodorus, Hyginus, et al) Arachne, a shepherd’s daughter, challenged Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts, to a weaving contest, once Athena saw Arachne’s talent was much greater than her own; she became consumed with rage and jealousy and beat Arachne around the head. Sacred to : Helios Myth 2 : Herb of the Gigantes. 1875. Acacia. Achilles and Ajax at Draughts, Black Figure Ware Amphora, Greek, 540 BCE. The plant was believed to calm sexual appetites and was used as a medicine for women. Zephyros grew jealous and one day when Apollon was playing quoits with the boy he caught up the disc with his windy breath and struck him in the head. Description : A white-flowered spring perennial which grows to a height of up to 1.2 metres. The goddess Persephone and her companion Nymphs were gathering rose, crocus, violet, dwarf iris (agallis), lily and larkspur blooms in a springtime meadow when she was abducted by the god Haides. Cybele by Luca Giordano (Naples 1632 – Naples 1705). Polyidos was a seer summoned to the court of King Minos of Krete to find his missing son Glaukos. When the god was grown he sought the aid of the goddess Metis or Gaia who served Kronos an herbal emetic which caused the Titan to disgorge his divine sibligns: Poseidon, Haides, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. Orchid – The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants. He accredited the name to the rounded two tubers, which looked similar to human testes, which gave to the accepted belief that orchids were an aphrodisiac, and caused Greek women to use the Orchid roots in order to determine the sex of their babies; If the father ate large, new tubers, the child would be male; if the mother ate small tubers, the child would be female. The nurse of the infant prince Opheltes lay him in a bed of wild celery as she gave directions to the heroes of the Seven Against Thebes. IOLE: Greek myth name of a woman loved … The ancient pharmacological writer Dioscurides describes the medicinal properties of herbs and other plants in great detail. Species : Heliotropium europaeum, H. hirsutissimum, H. supinum (Source: Pausanias), Also : European cornel The goddess Persephone and her companion Nymphs were gathering rose, crocus, violet, iris, lily and larkspur blooms in a springtime meadow when she was abducted by the god Haides. (Source: various) Zeus, as any father, wanted only the best for his baby son and knew nothing topped the milk of Hera, his wife, when it came to raising Greek gods, how though, could he persuade Hera to nourish the child of her husband’s illicit affair? A boy loved by the god Hermes. She then used the same to revive her own dead brother. Sacred to : Hermes (Source: Apollodorus, Pliny the Elder). The spittle of the beast dripped upon the earth, and from it sprang the first aconite plant. In Greek mythology, hellebore was used by the ancients for a variety of medicinal purposes, including treating paralysis, gout and even insanity. Myth 2 : Birth of Apollon. Narcissus, taken by surprise, exclaimed ‘Hands off! The tree was also prized for its wood. Hellebore or Christmas rose – the Eurasian genus Helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. CHRYSES: Greek myth name of a priest of Apollo, derived from the word chrysos, meaning "golden." (Source: Athenaeus), Also : Turkish fir and Trojan fir Mythology : Hamadryas Kraneia. Here are five more of the most evocative flower name origins – some you probably know, others may surprise you… 1. Greek : Mêlon In Ancient Greece, the poppy was a symbol of sleep and death, associated with Morpheus, God of sleep and dreams, and Demeter, Goddess of agriculture. One afternoon, the opportunity arose when Apollo and Hyacinth were throwing a discus around. The hero Damasen killed the beast, but afterwards, as Moria was watching, its mate appeared and restored it to life with a magical herb. A man who hospitably received the goddess Demeter when she was searching for her lost daughter Persephone. The second myth associates the name peony to an alluring nymph named Paeonia, whose beauty caused Apollo to swoon at her feet. In ancient Greece peonies were highly regarded for their medicinal properties, and were seen as a symbol of healing. And many of our flower names today stem directly from particular legends. The Acropolis of Athens by Leo von Klenze (1846). After the armour of Akhilleus was awarded to Odysseus he went mad and threw himself upon his own sword. Chloris was greatly saddened by the loss of such exquisite beauty, and feeling compassion for the poor nymph, transformed her into a flower, so that her beauty may live on. Zeus’ plan backfired, somehow, probably using her magical skills, Hera discovered what her husband was up to and begged Zeus to give her the cow as a present, having no excuse to refuse, he had no other choice, and Io, the cow, became the property of Hera. (Source: Athenaeus), See Walnut (both were called karya in Greek), Greek : Krokos In one tale, the peonies take their name from the Greek word Paeon, The name “Paeon” was also used in a general sense to refer to anyone who could save people from evil or calamity or had the power to deliver men from the sorrow and pains of living. Another myth states that when King Aegeus’ son, Theseus, left to kill the Minotaur, he told his father he would change his black sail to white, when he sailed home to Athens, to announce his victory. Another variant of the Crocus tale has it that the mortal Crocus was in love with a nymph, Smilax. Mythology : Metamorphosis Askalabos. The Greek named the flower amarantos, the unfading, helikhryson, turning gold, and khrysokomê, the golden-haired. When the god Zeus, flooded the earth in order to kill off warring men, the goddess Astraea, (daughter of Astraeus and Eos, the virgin goddess of justice, innocence, purity and precision), was so upset, that all she wished for was to become a star. Myth 1 : Tree of Dreams. In Homer’s the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men, after escaping from the island of the witch, Circe, take refuge upon the land of the Lotus Eaters, whose inhabitants existed exclusively on a diet of lotus flowers (thought to be of the Egyptian Blue Water Lily type of Lotus (Nymphaea); it has also been speculated that they may have been eating poppies.). Myth 4 : Hamadryas Ampelos. Myth 1 : Nymphai Meliai. When he killed himself following the death of his beloved pet stag the god transformed him into the cypress tree. Chloris (Flora) Roman fresco Pompeii – 1st Century A.D. Chloris summoned her friends, Aphrodite (Venus), goddess of love, and Dionysus, the god of wine to assist her. According to others Krokos was metamorphosed into the flower following the death of his love, the Nymph Smilax. Dianthus, Flowers of the Gods (Common names, carnations, sweet William and pinks) Dianthus comes from the Greek words dios, meaning god and anthos, meaning flower. Myth 1 : Dionysos & Viticulture. Some sources say, Rhea, the mother of goddess’ and her daughter, Demeter, brought the poppy from her Cretan cult to Eleusis and it is almost certain that in the Cretan cult circle, opium was derived from poppies. (Source: Athenaeus), Greek : Leirion, krinon The aromatic leaves of the bay are edible and are / were used in cooking. Sacred to : Prometheus (fennel-stalk torches were used in Promethean torch-race festival), Dionysos (his thyrsos staff was a pine-cone tipped fennel stalk) In a fit of anger, Artemis, gouged out his eyes but as soon as her rage had passed, she felt such remorse, that  where the eyes fell, red carnations grew as sign of innocent blood. Its red stems were desribed as his spilt blood. Sacred to : Attis (born of the almond nut) Description : A small spring-flowering deciduous tree. It is said that Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, created the poppy so she could sleep, Theocritus, a Sicilian poet, c. 300 BC, described one of Demeter’s earlier roles as that of a goddess of poppies and in many myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead, as their bright scarlet colour was thought to signify the promise of resurrection after death. And impregnated her bringer of bad luck goddess Aphrodite '' to earth on... 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