Named for Castalia, a nymph pursued by Apollo {see planet  (1862)}. Fleeing his attention, she dived into the earth, whence a spring burst forth and was given her name. The mythical spring, on Mount Parnassus at Delphi, was the site of the most important oracle to ancient Greece. Castalia was sacred to the muses and was considered a divine source of poetic inspiration. The name also refers to a genus of aquatic plants of the water-lily family, distinguished by rounded, floating leaves and large, fragrant flowers of various colors. (M 18464) _ _.