fools all! who never learned
how much better than the whole the half is,
nor how much good there is
in living on mallow and asphodel.
This is that old moralist Hesiod speaking whose pious tirades in The Works and Days are unwittingly echoed in the speech and behaviour of island Greeks. I take ‘living on mallow’ to refer not only to the edible leaves of mallow but also to the fruits of okra (Hibiscus esculentus). belonging to the Mallow family, indigenous Greek plants; and ‘asphodel’ to include besides the fleshy tuberous roots of the wild plant (Asphodelus in variety) and the huge bulbs of the sea squill or sea onion, Urginea maritima, recommended by Pliny, and still eaten in hard times, also the Alliums, which until the 19th century were classed as asphodels. The cultivation of the onion was the main Apollonian crop.
