In this beautifully illustrated book that's Song of Achilles meets Secret Life of Trees, readers will discover the plants cultivated by the Greek Gods–many of which can still be experimented with today–for a myriad of uses. 

In Greek mythology, plants were used for tools, intoxication, warfare, food, medicine, magic, and rituals. When Prometheus stole fire from the Olympian gods and gave it to mankind, he hid it in a stalk of giant fennel. Ancient Greeks waiting to question the oracles were given cannabis as part of their cleansing rituals. A quince fruit started the Trojan war. The goddess Demeter was so distraught when Hades kidnapped her daughter that she caused winter to blanket the earth, killing all plants. 

Mythic Plants focuses on how the ancient Greeks used plants in their lives and loves and conquests—some of which we can still use.

Includes tips throughout for bringing these ancient plants into your garden.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
 
Intoxicants
Barley
Cannabis
The Flying Herbs
The Grape
Mandrake
The Poppy
 
 
It’s All in the Dosage
Aconite
Dittany
Medicinal herbs
Pennyroyal
Poison Hemlock
Yarrow
 
A Culinary Odyssey
The Acorn
Asphodel
The Cornelian Cherry
The Fig
The Lotus
Silphion
 
Shape Shifters
Laurel
The Linden
Moly
The Mulberry
The Pine
Plant Metamorphoses
 
Gifts of the Gods
Fennel
Ivy
The Rose
The Oak
The Olive
Three Trees
 
Divine Trickery
The Apple
Myrtle
The Narcissus
The Pomegranate
 
Love Potions and Libido Killers
The Chaste Tree
Lettuce
Myrrh
The Quince
 
Epilogue
 
Appendix – Ancient Authors
 

"In Mythic Plants, you can mix your love of mythology with your love of all things green. For the gardener who loves to read about ancient Greek history, beliefs, and practices, this book is a delight. It’s full of quick-to-read, browse-able chapters that explain the origins and cultures associated with various plants, and the ways that ancient folks used everyday plants and weeds in their lives. Zachos tells readers how modern science, laws, and knowledge compares to what the Greeks knew and thought, and how it’s relevant to your garden today."

—Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez

"This book is very interesting and I recommend it... It is not by any means a complete “Ancient Materia Medica,” but it’s a fun breeze-through. And sometimes a detail slips through into modern gardening: where Cornelian-cherry will root readily, or that quinces, in Greece, have a long enough season to ripen and become soft and edible without cooking, where, here, they don’t.
Zachos’ tongue is often firmly in her cheek. Lots of pithy comments, but the one that had me howling was the second complete sentence on page 164. Buy this book and read it for yourself."—Washington Gardener