It is assumed that the Flor Agreste (Wild Flower) model was the daughter of a charcoal burner that passed by Soares dos Reis’ studio. The piece was done in 1878, when Soares dos Reis was waiting for his workshop-house to be built in Rua Luís de Camões, in Vila Nova de Gaia.
The marble sculpture was sold at an exhibition-bazaar at the Centro Artístico Portuense, of which Soares dos Reis was one of the founders, held in 1881 at the Palácio de Cristal. Posthumously, the Flor Agreste plaster model served as a matrix for various types of reproduction, in various sizes and materials, giving the work an extraordinary diffusion.