dryad

plural dryads

1. Greekhuman sciencesA female tree spirit; a woodnymph or tree nymph.

   No Dryads sought to avert the fate of their kindred trees - no Nereides sported on the waves.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 234

   1 more example

   There it had stood for years, close beside a mighty oak, under which sat often the kindly old priest, who told stories to the listening children. The young chestnut tree listened with them: the Dryad inside it, who was still a child, could remember the time when the tree was so small that it only reached a little higher than the ferns and long blades of grass.

   1914, Hans Christian Andersen, “The Dryad”, in William Alexander Craigie, transl., Fairy tales and other stories

2. Any of the dryas plants, especially the plant mountain avens.