Laurus nobilis which Apollo fashioned wreaths out of to console himself. Other versions of the myth, including that of the Roman poet Ovid, state that Daphne was transformed directly into a laurel tree. Bay laurel was used to fashion the laurel wreath of ancient Greece, a symbol of highest status. A wreath of bay laurels was given as the prize at the Pythian Games because the games were in honor of Apollo, and the laurel was one of his symbols. According to the poet Lucian, the priestess of Apollo known as the Pythia reputedly chewed laurel leaves from a sacred tree growing
Thalia (nymph) Thalia (nymph) In Greek mythology, Thalia or Thaleia ( ; "Tháleia" or Θάλια "Thália", "the Joyous, the Flourishing", from θάλλειν / thállein, "to flourish, to be green") is a nymph, the child of Hephaestus. She is also given as an anthropomorphic secondary deity of plant life and shoots, possibly as the culmination of the transmission of knowledge on volcanic ash's use as a fertiliser, characteristic of ancient viticulture in volcanic soils such as those of the island of Santorini. The tradition surrounding her is confused, but she is probably confused with the Muse, Grace or Nereid of the same name.