Apollo and Daphne earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger! Let me be free of this man from this moment forward!" Peneus answered her plea and “a heavy numbness [seized] her limbs; her soft breasts [were] surrounded by a thin bark, her hair [changed] into the foliage, her forearms [changed] into branches; her foot, just now swift, now [clinged] because of sluggish roots.” She was turned into a laurel tree. Apollo vowed to honor her forever: “Always my hair will have you, my lyres will have you, my quivers will have you, laurel tree. You
Laurel forest water despite the humidity, allowing perspiration and respiration. The scientific names "laurina", "laurifolia", "laurophylla", "lauriformis", and "lauroides" are often used to name species of other plant families that resemble the Lauraceae. The term "Lucidophyll", referring to the shiny surface of the leaves, was proposed in 1969 by Tatuo Kira. The scientific names "Daphnidium", "Daphniphyllum", "Daphnopsis", "Daphnandra", "Daphne" from Greek: Δάφνη, meaning "laurel", "laural", "Laureliopsis", "laureola", "laurelin", "Laurelindorinan", "laurifolia", "Cistus laurifolius" (Laurel Rockrose), "laurifolius", "lauriformis", "laurina", "laurophylla", "laurocerasus", "laurus", "Prunus laurocerasus" (English laurel), "Prunus lusitanica" (Portugal laurel), "Corynocarpus laevigatus" (New Zealand Laurel), and "Corynocarpus rupestris" designate species of other plant families