Leuce
A sea nymph abducted by Hades and transformed into a white poplar tree in the Underworld after her death.
The Myth of Leuce
Leuce was a beautiful Oceanid, a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Hades — who rarely surfaces in romantic myths beyond Persephone — saw her and carried her off to his realm beneath the earth. She lived with him in the Underworld, but she was not immortal in the way the gods were, and eventually she died.
When she died, Hades honoured her by transforming her into a white poplar tree, which he planted in the Elysian Fields. The white poplar became sacred to the dead, its leaves dark green on top and silver-white beneath — said to represent the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
When Heracles descended to the Underworld to capture Cerberus, he wore a crown of Leuce's poplar leaves. The sweat on his brow whitened the undersides of the leaves that touched his skin, while smoke from the Underworld darkened the outer surfaces. This is the mythological explanation for the white poplar's distinctive two-toned foliage. The tree was thereafter associated with heroes, death, and the passage between worlds.
Parents
Oceanus and Tethys
Children
None
Symbols
Fun Fact
The white poplar's two-toned leaves — dark above, silver below — were explained by Heracles sweating through a crown of Leuce's leaves during his trip to the Underworld.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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