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Here, Ovid speaking through Flora recognizes the developmental relationship between
flowers and fruits, including the less obvious case of grain. This is far less equivocal than
Theophrastus’s tentative musings on the necessity of the “distaff ” for fruit production in
citron, which we noted in Chapter 8. Paradoxically, Theophrastus was handicapped by
the Greek penchant for thoroughness and precision. He knew that there were examples of
plants, such as the fig, which seemed to produce fruits without any apparent flower, and the
existence of such exceptions prevented him from formulating a universal principle about
the development of fruits from flowers. Roman poets and writers on agriculture, who pre-
ferred pragmatism to universal principles, emphasized the rule of thumb and ignored excep-
tions. The fact that figs and a few other plants appeared to lack flowers in no way invalidated
the general principle that fruits arise from flowers.
Regarding sex in plants, Ovid in Fasti V relates the story of an encounter between
Flora and Juno that symbolically connects flowers to parthenogenesis. The story begins
with Juno’s grieving because her husband Jove has borne a daughter, Minerva, from his
head, without her participation. She would love to beget a child on her own to get even,
but despairs because she thinks it’s impossible. She sets out on a journey “to complain to
Ocean,” the goddess of the sea (always a good listener), but stops at Flora’s house along the
way to seek the flower goddess’s advice:If Jove became a father without using a spouse
And possesses both titles by himself,
Why should I not expect a spouseless motherhood,
Chaste parturition, untouched by man?
I’ll try every drug on the broad earth and empty
Ocean and the hollows of Tartarus.^9Having finished her plea she observes “a look of doubt” on Flora’s face and pleads for her
help. At first, Flora expresses her fear of Jove’s wrath, but when Juno promises to keep her
identity a secret Flora yields and tells Juno about a magic flower:“A flower,” I said, “from the fields of Olenus^10
Will grant your wish. It’s unique to my gardens.
I was told: ‘Touch a barren cow; she’ll be a mother.’
I touched. No delay; she was a mother.”^11Flora then plucked the magic flower from her garden and touched Juno with it, where-
upon the goddess immediately conceived. Having succeeded in her quest, Juno departed
and made her way to “Thrace and West Propontis,” where she gave birth to Mars. As a token
of her gratitude, Juno decreed that henceforth, Flora would always have a temple in Rome.
The story of Flora’s role in the conception of Mars, which is based on a Greek story
of Hera’s conception of Ares,^12 invites speculation about the symbolic significance of
the magic f lower from “the fields of Olenus.” Based on Olenus’s reputation for natu-
ral beauty and abundance, the f lower is probably a symbol of fecundity, but of what
type— sexual or parthenogenic— is not clear. The Romans were familiar with the role
of the male date palm in fecundating the female tree, so it is possible the magic f lower
is patterned on the male rachis of the date palm. According to this interpretation, Flora