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Dryope, a MythSource painting
Greek

Dryope

01Identity

Dryope in Greek tradition

At a lake, Dryope picks flowers to amuse her young son, unaware that one bloom is Lotis, who had assumed plant form while escaping Priapus. This story appears in Henry T. Riley's 1889 English rendering of Ovid's Metamorphoses; it is a literary metamorphosis, not a historical report. The sister first notices drops falling from the flower and its branches trembling. Dryope's act leads to her own, separate change into a tree. Her sister tries to delay it; her husband and father come looking as the change proceeds. Before her voice fails, Dryope makes requests about her son's care and the tree's protection. The tale links the two transformations through the same plant but keeps their causes separate.

SourceThe Metamorphoses of Ovid: Book IX, pp. 321–323

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Dryope?

    At a lake, Dryope picks flowers to amuse her young son, unaware that one bloom is Lotis, who had assumed plant form while escaping Priapus.
02The myths

The myths of Dryope

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Dryope's lotus and tree transformation

In Henry T. Riley's 1889 English rendering of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Lotis escapes Priapus by changing into a flower. Dryope, unaware of this, picks blooms for her young son. A change overtakes Dryope from the ground up, replacing her human shape with a tree's. Her sister tries to delay what is happening.

When Dryope's husband and father come looking, her sister points them to the plant. Before she can no longer speak, Dryope makes requests about her child's care and the tree's safety. The story ends as her voice falls silent and her body becomes a tree. Lotis's flight and Dryope's fate are linked by the same flower, but they are two distinct transformations.

Dryope's lotus and tree transformation, a MythSource painting of the scene

5 sources· checked 2026-09-29

  1. 1The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  2. 2The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  3. 3The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  4. 4The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  5. 5The Metamorphoses of OvidT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Dryope, each on that figure’s page.