One of the difficulties is that "green man" is such a general phrase as to be nearly useless.
in much popular folklore in the UK and USA (?australia) etc the term means "foliate head", which is what this type was called before Lady Raglan did her bit in er.... 1939?
green folk or people also turn up in contexts of "strange visitors" - like Woolpit - and "faery types" in general.
Green folk etc can also mean "normal" people dressed in green, including Lincoln Green!
There are zoo/bot hybrids which have a lore of their own, including vegetable lambs, barnacle geese, mandrakes and so on.
Where one draws the line between all these types and, for example, wodewoses, sweeps in particular and garland carriers in general is a moot point!
symbols change depending on context. Straw boaters mean something different when associated with butchers, punts, vaudeville, school girls.
archetypes, according to jung, have a different form every time they occur, dependent on context.
:grrr:
but it wouldn't be so much fun otherwise
kath