The son of Hermes and Penelope, or Zeus and Hybris, Pan was the Greek god of shepherds and flocks, who was especially popular in Arcadia. He was depicted as a satyr with a reed pipe, a shepherd's crook and a branch of pine or crown of pine needles. 

   In Greek mythology the satyrs are deities of the woods and mountains. They are half human and half beast; they usually have a goat's tail, flanks and hooves. While the upper part of the body is that of a human, they also have the horns of a goat. They are the companions of Dionysus, the god of wine, and they spent their time drinking, dancing, and chasing nymphs.

   Pan was also a god of fertility, unbridled male sexuality and carnal desire.

   When Pan was born and the nurse saw the face and the beard of the newborn child, she was afraid and fled, and also for this it has been said that irrational terrors (panic) come from Pan.

   During the Renaissance and through to Victorian times, satyrs were often thought of as "noble savages": creatures that weren't as refined as mankind, but who were still one with nature and living in peace with it (something which mankind wasn't doing, but could appreciate). In this respect, it was typical to show satyrs sleeping or playing the pipes or walking around with the wife and kids.

   Seeds of Northern Temperate orchids are so small that in the ancient world pople believed that orchids develop not from seeds as other plants well known to them but from the sperm of satyrs dropped to the ground.

   Linnaeus in his "Species Plantarum" coined the orchid genus Satyrium including only a single, small, unassuming species, Satyrium viride L. 1753. commonly known as bog or frog orchid.

   Satyrium viride is pollinated by beetles and small wasps but its incoherent pollinia may crumble and in that case pollen falling on the stigma results in autogamy (self-fertilization).

   Autogamy occurs in other orchids as well, therefore, certain orchids can be considered to be more versatile in these respects than even the satyrs of ancient legends were ...

   In 1820 Satyrium viride L. was transferred into the also monotypic Coeloglossum (koilos = hollow, glossa = tongue, viridis = green) and its valid name since then is Coeloglossum viride (L.) Hartman 1820.