- Origin: Greek Φυλλοδόκη
- Modern Greek: Fillodoki
- Meaning: “receiver of foliage.”
- Gender: Female
- Eng pron: FYE-loh-DIS-ee; Grk (Fil-LOH-do-keh)
The name derives from the Ancient Greek elements φύλλον (phyllon), meaning “leaf, foliage,” and δέχομαι (dechomai), “to receive” or “to welcome.”
In Greek mythology, Phyllodoce was one of the Nereids, the fifty sea nymph daughters of Nereus and Doris.
The name Phyllodoce was later adopted in scientific Latin for a genus of mountain heath plants (family Ericaceae), commonly called mountain heathers. These small evergreen shrubs, with delicate purple or pink flowers, grow in alpine and arctic regions.
With its lyrical cadence and mythological roots, Phyllodoce reflects the 18th–19th-century European taste for classical revival names, particularly those drawn from nature and mythology.
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