The document provides etymologies and background information for three plant terms: 1. Agave comes from the Greek word meaning "illustrious" or "noble." In mythology, Agave killed her son Pentheus during a ritual celebration of Dionysus. 2. Cactus comes from the Greek word meaning "spiny plant." It was originally used to describe a type of thistle, but later applied to cacti and their distinctive spiny stems by Linnaeus. 3. Crassula derives from the Latin word for "thick," referring to the plant's thick stems and leaves. Succulents like crassula have thick tissues to store water.

1. AGAVE
ETIMOLOGY: Agave comes from the Greek word ἀγαυή, which
means “illustrious, noble”
MITHOLOGY: Agave, daughter of Cadmus and mother of Pentheus.
The story of Pentheus says that he saw a group of women rushing to
Mount Cithaeron to celebrate Dyonisus (Bacchus), god of wine, where
men were not allowed; as he was seen by the women, he was brutally
slaughtered and beheaded by his mother, who fled to Illyria, seeing
what she had done. However, such atrocity, committed by Agave in
order to keep the traditional festivity, was seen as admirable and
noble, although it was her own son that she had killed.

2. This term was coined by Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
The reason why he chose that name for this type of plant is for its
“stately” flower stem.
CACTUS
ETYMOLOGY: The Word cactus comes from the latin Word “cactus”,
which comes from the Greek Word κακτός, meaning “spiny plant”.
That is the name given by Greek philosopher Theophrastus (371-
287a.C.) It was used to refer to a type of thistle with spiny stem and
leaves, growing in Sicily. It was probably the Cynara cardunculus, a
variety of species of thistle in the family Asteraceae. This species is
totally different from the family Cactaceae, which includes the thistle
plant as we know it today).

3. Around 350 years later the word κάκτος appeared in Latin as “cactus”
thanks to Pliny the Elder (23-29 A. D.), Roman naturalist, scientist and
writer. The word appeared in his work Naturalis Historiae.
Around 1753 Carl Linnaeus uses the word cactus to name a plant family
which describes several species of Cactaceae. It was probably used to
refer to its spiny aspect. This way, the meaning changes completely.
It does not refer to the spiny aspect of its leaves but to the spiny
stems. This is the distinctive feature of the Cactaceae in modern plant
taxonomy.

4. CRASSULA
ETIMOLOGY: This word comes from the latin word
“Crassus”, which means thick. This type of cactus
has thick stems and leaves.
These succulent plants (whose name comes from the
latin word “suculentus”, meaning juicy) have thick
roots, stems or leaves. This allows the plant to store
more water than other plants.