From men being turned into flowers to a single fruit starting the Trojan War, there are many fascinating histories behind many plants and flowers in Greek mythology. Here are a few key plants and the intriguing mythology behind their names.

In my herbal or flower guides, I’ll do a little dive into the history of the plant. Many have notes on Greek mythology, for plants were often the core of understanding the myth narrative. In fact, many of the plant’s properties are the small truth you’ll find at the centre of these myths.
Ellen Zachos’s new book, Mythic Plants: Potions and Poisons from the Gardens of the Gods, details many of our favourite plants and the Greek mythology behind them. To say I’m excited about this book is an understatement. It’s available now for pre-order and will certainly be a best seller.
Ellen is one of the most inquisitive and talented people I have met. If you have ever heard her talk, she fills the room with excitement and imparts knowledge in a way that feels like entertainment. And that’s what her writing is like as well. The words and stories pop off the pages, making it easy to learn and feel like she is sitting there with you, having a cocktail and conversation.
If my mother was alive, Mythic Plants would have been her favourite book. In university, she was a history major, and then she took up gardening in retirement. She started taking some biology classes at the local college as her love of plants grew. As a lover of history and plants, I wish she could have read this book.
If you also have a love of plants and diving deep into history, you’re going to love this book. I’ve gathered a few stories about plants in Greek mythology from Ellen’s book to share with you today that perfectly capture her wonderful storytelling!


Quotes republished with permission from Mythic Plants: Potions and Poisons from the Gardens of the Gods by Ellen Zachos © 2025. Published by Workman Publishing.
7 Plants and Flowers of Greek Mythology
Opium Poppy
Papaver somniferum
Many of us know the opium poppy for its sometimes infamous reputation as the origin of opioids. The Greeks knew it too as an anesthetic and a powerful tool in medicine, but also as the reincarnation of the goddess Demeter’s lover.
“Demeter, goddess of the harvest, had a mortal lover named Mekon. She transformed him into a poppy to preserve his beauty after he died, and the poppy plant was henceforth called Mekon. That’s it. No trickery, no abduction, no drama,” says Ellen.
It’s not often you get such a simple, drama-free story in Greek mythology. Demeter is known as the harvest goddess and is associated with many different flowers and fruits, so it’s no surprise to see the opium poppy connected with her.
Ellen also notes that Demeter used poppy and its ability to “relax” as a way to settle down after the disappearance of her daughter, Persephone. More on that later!


Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
While it is easy to connect Demeter with plants in mythology, there can be other interesting figures with herbaceous backgrounds, such as the central character in Homer’s Iliad, Achilles.
“While Achilles is well-known as ancient Greece’s fiercest warrior, few people realize he was schooled in herbalism by the centaur Cheiron, “ says Ellen. “One plant in particular remains associated with Achilles even today. The yarrow plant, Achillea millefolium, is named for Achilles, and mythology tells us he used it to heal his men on the battlefield.”
Today, it is still known as a wound healer. During WWII, it was used to treat soldier’s wounds since it stops bleeding when made into a poultice and acts as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.
It’s a favourite in my garden due to its drought-tolerant properties, beautiful array of colours, and the fact that the pollinators love it.


Fig
Ficus carica
Have you ever enjoyed the splendour of a fresh fig? There is really nothing like it out there, and it’s difficult to enjoy without growing one yourself or knowing someone who does.
“The fig (Ficus carica) was so important in ancient Greece that there were special laws about who could harvest them and when,” says Ellen. “Sure, figs are delicious, but even more importantly, they are easily preserved by drying.”
Being able to dry figs for winter made them extremely valuable, being one of the three most important agricultural crops behind grapes and olives in ancient Greece.
As a vegetation god, Dionysus was often associated with figs, and the easy-to-carve fig wood was often used to make wooden phalluses for Dionysus rituals since he was also considered a sexual god. Ellen tells a particularly phallic myth about Dionysus and fig wood in her book. I’ll leave it to you to seek it out!


Rose
Rosa spp.
I’ve written plenty about the beauty of roses, as well as their medicinal properties. They’re an absolute skincare favourite of mine, and I use rose water nearly every day of my life. The Greeks also loved their roses, the climate being perfect for growing them.
“The flower is soft, fragrant, voluptuous, and sensual. In contrast, its stem is painfully prickly and can draw blood. So it makes sense that the rose was sacred to Aphrodite, goddess of love, well-versed in both pleasure and pain,” says Ellen.
The rose is also associated with Aphrodite’s son, Eros, and her lover, Adonis. Aphrodite was also said to use the medicinal properties of rose oil to cover the corpse and protect the skin of the Trojan warrior Hector, as Achilles dragged his body as an act of revenge—such a brutal story for a beautiful flower.


Narcissus
Narcissus spp.
One of the heralds of spring, the narcissus (daffodil) is a cheery yellow flower with a darker Greek backstory. The flower was used by Hades to attract Persephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, to a beautiful field. When she bent to pick the narcissus flower, the world opened beneath her, and Hades took her in to be his wife and queen of the underworld.
“The beguiling narcissus was no earthly plant,” says Ellen. “It had been created specifically to lure Persephone away from her friends by the same god who approved the kidnapping plot: Persephone’s father, almighty Zeus.”
While the Greeks may have seen the more nefarious side of the daffodil, I still appreciate the brightness it brings as winter slowly disappears.
Lettuce
Lactuca spp.
Lettuce is always one of the first plants I recommend people grow. It’s super easy to start from seed and well worth the effort put into growing them. I grow mine in a wine barrel, feeding me all spring, summer, and fall.
In terms of Greek mythology, lettuce doesn’t have the same praises. It was known as the deathbed of Adonis, Aphrodite’s beautiful lover.
“Adonis died while still a boy, gored by a wild boar,” says Ellen. “Some say Ares sent the boar because he was jealous (he and Aphrodite had history). Others say the boar was sent by Apollo or Artemis as punishment for offenses Aphrodite committed against them. Regardless of whoever sent the boar, Adonis died on a bed of lettuce, and after that, lettuce was associated with death.”
If you ask me, a bed of lettuce isn’t the worst place to go.
Quince
Cydonia oblonga
I love flowering quince. It’s one of the flowers featured on my tattoo. While the flowering quince also produces an edible fruit, they’re technically a different genus (Chaenomeles speciosa) from the quince fruit. However, they’re both members of the family Rosaceae.
“Today the quince is a novelty fruit, but in ancient Greece the quince was appreciated as a food, a valuable trade item, an aphrodisiac, and the central object in several well-known myths. In fact, the quince may have been the golden apple that started the Trojan War.”
Yes, the Trojan War. This fact is up for debate, however, which Ellen breaks down in full in her book.


I hope you enjoyed some of these stories about plants and flowers in Greek mythology. Ellen’s book Mythic Plants covers more than 40 different plants in Greek mythology, diving deep into their history in such an engaging read. Available for pre-order now, I really hope you check it out!
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