Birth flower for October 8
Oncidium
Meaning: hidden love, carefree joy
Each little yellow flower has a flared 'skirt' and outstretched petal 'arms', and a long spray of them sways in the breeze, hence the nickname dancing lady orchid. The genus name comes from the Greek for 'swelling', after a bump on the lip. Taiwan is a major grower of oncidium cut flowers and ships the yellow ones to Japan by the boxload, and one hybrid, 'Sharry Baby', smells like chocolate.