Handel's lost Hamburg operas Daphne while the other would-be lovers manoeuvre for position. Lycoris assures Apollo that Daphne's abandonment of the wedding was a signal that she favours him. Lycoris also steals Daphne's cloak and, wearing it as a disguise, makes advances to Damon, having first ensured that Florindo overhears. Florindo is enraged by what he believes is Daphne's duplicity, and denounces her. Damon confirms the story. Daphne, bewildered, pleads with her father Peneus to prove her innocence; he responds by transforming her into a laurel tree. Cupid blames Apollo's pride for the fiasco, but gives him the laurel as his "special tree". Florindo
Daphne at the Pythian Games. The name Daphne, in greek Δάφνη, means "laurel. While the story of Daphne is traditionally connected with the bay laurel ("Laurus nobilis"), almost 90 species of evergreen shrubs noted for their scented flowers and poisonous berries are grouped under the genus Daphne—including the garland flower ("Daphne cneorum"); the February Daphne or mezereon ("Daphne mezereum"); and spurge laurel or wood laurel ("Daphne laureola"). These genera are categorized in the family Thymelaeaceae and are native to Asia, Europe and North Africa Artemis Daphnaia, who had her temple among the Lacedemonians, at a place called Hypsoi in antiquity, on