5 Plants and Their Mythological Origins

Plants and flowers have been used as a form of expression for as long as humans have been able to articulate themselves. Be it in poems, paintings, or gifts, there’s a general understanding that these living things mean something. But some of their symbolism goes much deeper than simple ‘love’ or ‘well wishes.’

Sometimes a flower actually came from a bitter-sweet Greek myth, or has been used in religious imagery for generations. Maybe a saint used a plant no bigger than a thumb to teach a country about a religion. Regardless of the biology of the plant, people will still find meaning behind the greenery that fills so much of the plant. The list of meaningful flora is long, but here are five notable ones that are steeped in myth and symbolism.

The Buddha’s Favorite Flora: A Lotus Flower

The Lotus Flower is an aquatic flower that is a common motif in religious art, particularly in symbolism of Hinduism and Buddhism. As with most symbols, the lotus flower is associated with multiple traits, some of the most prominent being purity, awakening and transformation. It’s often used in visual depictions of the Buddha, be it paint or thankgkas, which are traditional Tibetan scroll paintings that depict spiritual teachings. One of these scroll paintings that is still preserved was titled the Lotus Lama.

Unlike most thankgkas that are painted on scrolls, the Lotus Lama artist instead stitched small pieces of fabric together to depict the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Tsongkhapa in meditation. Two lotus flowers hover over his shoulders as part of the symbolic scenery. 

But the lotus flower isn’t just a key religious symbol, it’s also woven into Buddhist stories itself. The Buddhist enlightened figure Padmasambhava’s name means “Lotus-Born” as he is said to have been born from a lotus flower already fully enlightened, the highest form of realization in Buddhism.

There’s plenty of small ways the Buddha is connected to the lotus flower as well, he’s often depicted sitting in a lotus position for meditation, and some sculptures have him actually sitting on a lotus throne. This flower’s depiction has been intertwined with the Buddha’s for centuries that it’s no wonder it’s taken on similar meanings of transformation.

The Clovers and their Religious Friend, a Saint

Everyone knows two things about a four-leaf clover; it’s lucky, and it’s Irish. Technically called a shamrock—a family of plants that still doesn’t have its own scientific notation—the four-leaf variety is a 1 in 10,000 rarity most likely caused by a recessive gene trait in the plant. That rarity is primarily responsible for causing it to become associated with luck.

But the three-leafed version has its own symbolism in Irish myth. Historian Marion R. Casey said the three-leaf clover was associated with a legend that St. Patrick himself used the plant to teach Catholic doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The three leaves represented the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick’s use of the plant spurred it into the country’s identity. Now, the shamrock is widely recognized as a national symbol of Ireland. It’s been used in iconography for the country and even in decorations on gifts to foreign dignitaries. So despite the famous nature of the elusive, lucky four-leaf clover, the standard shamrock holds a similarly symbolic status for its country.

Lucky Bamboo and you Guessed it, Luck!

Despite its name this tall, leafy plant isn’t actually a species of bamboo at all. Native to Western Africa, the dracaena sanderiana has been adopted into the Chinese decorating philosophy of feng shui, which aims to create harmony in living spaces. The more harmony, the more luck.

People who practice feng shui believe lucky bamboo is one of the plants that enhances luck—go figure. To optimize the plant’s use in space, it should be put in the east or southeast most direction of the room. Feng shui also puts lots of emphasis on incorporating the elements of wood, fire, water, earth, and metal. A lucky bamboo plant can have all five. Wood is the bamboo itself, stones or pebbles in the container are the earth, water is what lucky bamboo grows in, the pot can be metal, and a red ribbon can be tied around the stalks to signify fire.

But the symbolism doesn’t end there, the number of stalks in a lucky bamboo plant can also hold special meaning when gifting the plant. Two stalks doubles your luck and represents love, while three stalks represent wealth, happiness, and long life. Five stalks brings luck in finance and business, while ten stalks means you wish the receiver gets everything they want. A large, 21 stalk plant is the highest amount of well wishes you could possibly give. 

Regardless of the specific type of luck, gifting any number of stalks is a sign of well wishes. Just be sure to avoid the four stalk bamboo, which is often associated with bad luck or death.

Narcissus Flower; Prettier than the Mythical Man it’s Named After

This plant’s name comes from Greek myth, and like most Grecian mythology there are countless versions of the same story recounting events differently. But across many of its retellings, specific beats remain the same to form the collective myth of Echo and Narcissus:

A nymph named Echo slights the goddess Hera, who curses Echo to only ever repeat the words of others for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, a boy named Narcissus is born and the blind seer Tiresias prophecies that Narcissus will live a long life so long as he did not know himself.

Narcissus grows into a beautiful man with many admirers, but turns all of them down. Echo eventually happens upon Narcissus in the woods and instantly falls in love with him, but as she’s only able to repeat his words back to him Narcissus rejects her. Echo flees. Some myths include the greek goddess of retribution, Nemesis, intervening in this part, but others also have Narcissus happen upon a demise all on his own.

While out on a stroll Narcissus comes across a still pool of water, and reaching down to drink from it he catches his reflection. He falls in love with it. Unable to break away from his own reflection to eat or sleep, Narcissus withers away by the pool and dies. From the spot next to his reflection, a narcissus flower blooms.

In modern day, the narcissus flower is actually a genus of flowers, its most well-known variety being the daffodil. Despite a rather somber Greek myth explaining its existence, the actual flower itself is definitely pretty, though not fall-in-love-with-it pretty.

Mistletoe

The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe has its roots in Norse mythology. The god Odin had a son named Baldur who was prophesied to die, and in an attempt to save her son, Baldur’s mother and the goddess of love, Frigg, gathered all the plants and animals and made them swear an oath that they would never harm Baldur.

All of them agreed, but Frigg had forgotten to ask the lowly mistletoe plant. Aware of this, the trickster god Loki fashioned an arrow of mistletoe and used it to kill Baldur. Luckily the gods were able to resurrect Baldur, and a now delighted Frigg declared mistletoe a symbol of love and vowed to kiss everyone who passed below it. An interesting turn of events after said plant just killed a man, but either way mistletoe has now become an inescapable part of the Christmas season.

The tradition of kissing under the mistletoes evolved over the years. For a while it was bad luck if one of the people under it refused to kiss. Another version said after each kiss a berry should be plucked from the mistletoe, and once the berries were all gone the kissing should stop. Not a bad reputation for a plant that’s technically a parasitic species.

They Matter Even Without a Myth 

If history and myth have proven anything it’s that even the simplest things like flowers and plants can be given epic origin stories, elevated to a place of religious status, or imbued with subtextual meaning for entire cultures. But while the origins of these plants’ meaning may be intangible, the plants themselves are very much real.

Extinction is a very real problem for plants as much as it is for animals. We want to keep lotus flowers and mistletoe and all the other wacky-origin story plants we have, both so we can keep telling those stories, and because preserving nature is vital.

Over 60 seed plant species went extinct between 1900 and 2018, and that dwindling biodiversity impacts an entire ecosystem of other plants and animals. One way to keep ecosystems going is to make them resilient by reinforcing the biodiversity already existing there.

Consider donating to our Canopy Tree Project, which aims to plant 60 million more trees around the world by 2030. Through dedication to preserving the plants already here, we give them more of a chance to both thrive, and create meaning for all of us.

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