In Greek mythology, Daphne was transformed into a laurel tree while fleeing Apollo.
According to the best-known version, Apollo mocked Eros, who retaliated by making Apollo fall in love with Daphne. Eros caused Daphne to reject love, and Apollo pursued her. When Apollo was about to catch her, Daphne called on her father, the river god Peneus, to save her; he changed her into a laurel tree.
Apollo then made the laurel sacred to himself. In later Greek and Roman tradition, laurel wreaths became symbols of victory, achievement, and poetic distinction. Daphne’s story is sometimes mixed up with other transformation myths, but the tree specifically associated with her is the laurel, not the olive tree connected with Athena’s contest for Athens.