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
Daphne laureola B Noxious weed in Washington state. Mentioned on 5th Dec 1783, called dwarf laurels, by Gilbert White who “fetched them” from the high wood and hanger at Selborne and planted them in his garden. Hand-pulling is effective against small infestations (gloves must be worn to protect against the caustic sap); shrubs too large or too small to pull must be dug out. Daphne laureola Daphne laureola, commonly called spurge-laurel (or daphne-laurel, laurel-leaved daphne, olive-spurge, wood laurel, copse laurel), is a shrub in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae. Despite the name, this woodland plant is neither a spurge nor a laurel.