 This myth accounts for the custom, which has lasted into modern times, of decorating graves with these flowers.Linnaeus, who gave the flower its name, quite possibly did so because he believed it was the one that inspired the tale of Narcissus, handed down by poets since ancient times.In medicine, it was described by Dioscorides in his "Materia Medica" as "Being laid on with Loliacean meal, & honey it draws out splinters".