Jeweled Garden
“In ancient Greece, botanical imagery played a dominant role in jewelry design from the Classical through Hellenistic periods. Floral and leafy scrolls, palmettes and stylized rosettes were worn in combination with filigree decoration. Elaborate necklaces were strung with seed-like appendages that were often interspersed with female heads. Perhaps the most spectacular Grecian naturalistic jewels were the golden wreaths incorporating countless flowers and leaves. Made up of stems in the form of tapering tubes with acanthus leaves, olive leaves, laurel leaves, or oak leaves joined to it, these representations symbolized heaven, peace, victory, and strength… They were given as prizes for champions or as offerings to the gods and were also used as funerary jewelry,”
-Jeweled Garden: A Colorful History of Gems, Jewels, and Nature, by Suzanne Tennenbaum and Janet Zapata