Vegetation and color According to the Stoic philosopher Cornutus (1st century AD), Pluto wore a wreath of phasganion, more often called xiphion,Ancient sources on phasganion, xiphion and gladiolus, generally called "corn-flag" by historical botanists, include Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum 7.12.3; Dioscorides, De Materia Medica E 2.101; Pliny, Natural History 21.107–115; Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarius 79, as cited by Andrew Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z (Routledge, 2003), p. 105, characterizing Pliny's entry on the plant as "confused." The correspondence of ancient plant names to modern species is always uncertain. Both the Greek xiphion and the Latin word gladiolus ("little sword") come from a word meaning "sword." traditionally identified as a type of gladiolus.Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle (Paris, 1819), pp. 315–316; Julius Billerbeck, Flora classica (Leipzig, 1824), p. 13; "L'origine dei maccheroni," Archivo per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari 17 (1898), vol. 36, p. 428. Dioscorides recorded medical uses for the plant. For extracting stings and thorns, xiphion was mixed with wine and frankincense to make a cataplasm. The plant was also used as an aphrodisiacFrancis Adams, The Seven Books of Paulus Aegineta (London, 1847), p. 270; Dalby, Food in the Ancient World, p. 105; Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, p. 315. and contraceptive.John M. Riddle, Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance (Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 42; Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, p. 315. It grew in humid places. In an obscure passage, Cornutus seems to connect Pluto's wearing of phasganion to an etymology for Avernus, which he derives from the word for "air," perhaps through some association with the color glaukos, "bluish grey," "greenish" or "sea-colored," which might describe the plant's leaves. Because the color could describe the sky, Cornutus regularly gives it divine connotations.P.G. Maxwell-Stuart, Studies in Greek Colour Terminology: ΓΛΑΥΚΟΣ (Brill, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 40, 42, citing Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium 9, 20, 35. The word γλαυκότης (glaukotēs), however, is a textual crux in the passage pertaining to Pluto. Pluto's twin sister was named Glauca.
Vegetation and color According to the Stoic philosopher Cornutus (1st century AD), Pluto wore a wreath of phasganion, more often called xiphion,Ancient sources on phasganion, xiphion and gladiolus, generally called "corn-flag" by historical botanists, include Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum 7.12.3; Dioscorides, De Materia Medica E 2.101; Pliny, Natural History 21.107–115; Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarius 79, as cited by Andrew Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z (Routledge, 2003), p. 105, characterizing Pliny's entry on the plant as "confused." The correspondence of ancient plant names to modern species is always uncertain. Both the Greek xiphion and the Latin word gladiolus ("little sword") come from a word meaning "sword." traditionally identified as a type of gladiolus.Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle (Paris, 1819), pp. 315–316; Julius Billerbeck, Flora classica (Leipzig, 1824), p. 13; "L'origine dei maccheroni," Archivo per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari 17 (1898), vol. 36, p. 428. Dioscorides recorded medical uses for the plant For extracting stings and thorns, xiphion was mixed with wine and frankincense to make a cataplasm. The plant was also used as an aphrodisiacFrancis Adams, The Seven Books of Paulus Aegineta (London, 1847), p. 270; Dalby, Food in the Ancient World, p. 105; Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, p. 315. and contraceptive.John M. Riddle, Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance (Harvard University Press, 1992), p. 42; Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, p. 315. It grew in humid places. In an obscure passage, Cornutus seems to connect Pluto's wearing of phasganion to an etymology for Avernus, which he derives from the word for "air," perhaps through some association with the color glaukos, "bluish grey," "greenish" or "sea-colored," which might describe the plant's leaves. Because the color could describe the sky, Cornutus regularly gives it divine connotations.P.G. Maxwell-Stuart, Studies in Greek Colour Terminology: ΓΛΑΥΚΟΣ (Brill, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 40, 42, citing Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium 9, 20, 35. The word γλαυκότης (glaukotēs), however, is a textual crux in the passage pertaining to Pluto. .Pluto's twin sister was named Glauca.