Pro tip for getting to know your local native wildlife as a Hellenic polytheist!!
I was just messing around with an app I just downloaded, called iNat Next, developed by iNaturalist. (Super cool app, definitely recommend!)
When you enable your location, it shows you a bunch of native species (plants and animals!) local to your area. I was browsing through the native species in my area, and came across coyote brush. This is one of the first plants I learned to identify in summer camp as a kid, and it always makes me happy to see it because it reminds me of my childhood and hiking in the mountains in California.
And one of the things I noticed is that the scientific name is Baccharis pilularis. The genus name, Baccharis, comes from Bacchus, the Roman god (aka the Greek god Dionysus). It kind of hit me, like, oh, DUH…
✨ Scientific names for wildlife come from Latin mostly, and some of them include Greek roots. ✨
I couldn’t find any “official” reasoning for this “Bacchus” naming choice for this genus. But the more I thought about it, there are a few reasons that make sense to me. (Keep in mind that the Baccharis genus is massive and I am not an expert in plants so I can’t speak for all of the species in this genus, I’m just going off what I know about coyote brush!)
Coyote brush smells ✨suuuuper✨ strong. In a really beautiful earthy way. I love the smell of it. Whenever I see it along trails, I will rub my fingers against the leaves and inhale the scent because it is just so delicious!! I would even call the smell “intoxicating” in a way.
Jumping off that intoxication note, coyote brush is moderately toxic. To animals mostly, but can also cause stomach issues with humans. It’s not necessarily “poisonous” but can cause irritation and shouldn’t be consumed.
This is my main reason for seeing a connection however: This genus is generally known to be a great source of nectar for pollinators. When coyote brush is in bloom in the fall, bees and other pollinators swarm to it like crazy. Like when you’re walking by, you hear the buzzing way before you see the plant or the pollinators. It totally resembles a festival similar to Bacchanalia or other Dionysian celebrations, involving music and wine and feasting and, of course, sensuality and mating. The scene of a coyote brush plant in full bloom contains basically all of these elements - bees and other pollinators (btw, bees you see outside of a hive are most likely female, similar to the female followers of Dionysus known as Maenads) getting drunk off nectar, in a frenzied feast, buzzing loudly (“music”), and assisting in the plant’s reproductive cycle. The coyote brush is sticky (this is year-round, the leaves and stems contain oils that make it feel sticky, but it is even more so when it’s in bloom), it looks like it’s just oozing “honey” or “nectar” or whatever you wanna call it. Which also reminded me of the thyrsus (the staff Dionysus is often depicted with) because it contains plant elements like vines and pine cones (a seed) and sometimes is described as “dripping with honey” (according to Euripides in the Bacchae). Pollinators swarm to the plant and it becomes this huge loud frenzy of insects getting drunk on the nectar. (I’ve included a video link below just as an example)
Anyway, my point here is that you should pay attention to the scientific names of plants and animals!!!
Latin and Greek roots can give you hints to associations with deities, that you might not have considered otherwise because these species may not have been native to the Mediterranean at all.
I would’ve never associated coyote brush with Dionysus until I took the time to find those connections. I’m definitely going to be adding coyote brush to my list of UPG correspondences for Dionysus now!!
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. 🙏🏻✨
