Dryads

female nymphs who inhabit the forests, groves, woods, and all other types of trees. Dry— part of dryad comes from the Greek word “oak” and used to refer to only oak tree nymphs, but now it has become the overarching term for all wood nymphs. Dryads are known for being rather shy. They have long lives that can often be closely tied to where their home (aka: tree) is. Hamadryads are dryads who are so tied to their tree that if their tree dies, they die. If their tree grows or blossoms, so does the dryad.

Not all dryads are tied to a particular tree. Some are tied to a location or section of trees like a sacred grove, a glen, a vale, etc. Depending on which type of tree they inhabit or the location of those trees, dryads can go by different names just like the naiads: Meliai (ash trees), Oreiades (mountain trees), hamadryads (usually oak or poplar trees), Maliades (fruit trees), Daphnaei (laurel trees), Alseides (located in sacred groves) Aulonides (located in glens), Napaiai (located in vales.)