DRYADES, or Hamadryades, in Greek Mythology, were nymphs of trees and woods, each particular tree or wood being the habitation of its own special Dryad, just as each river was the abode of its own local god. From being so closely identified with trees, the Dryades came to be thought of as having been, like the trees, produced from the earth, as Hesiod says, Theog., 129.