I have a plant genetics and plant breeding background, and something has always bugged me in the orchid world. Everyone else (that I know of) never uses the terms "4N" or "3N", but rather 2n = 4x or 2n = 3x (so tetraploid will be "4x" and triploid will be "3x").
"n" stands for the gametic number or haploid number, and is the number of chromosomes in a gamete (in the case of an orchid, the number of chromosomes in a pollen cell, or in a egg cell).
n = gametic or haploid number
2n = zygotic or diploid number
There is NO 3n or 4n because an organism/cell can only be a gamete or a zygote.
"x" stands for the basic number of unique chromosomes to the genome of the species
x = monoploid (1 set of chromosomes)
2x = diploid (2 sets of chromosomes)
3x = triploid (3 sets of chromosomes)
4x = tetraploid (4 sets of chromosomes)
5x = pentaploid (5 sets of chromosomes)
6x = hexaploid (6 sets of chromosomes)
etc
Can anyone explain why in the orchid world all of a sudden we talk about 2N for diploid, 4N for tetraploid and 3N for triploid (it should be 2n = 2x for diploid, 2n = 4x for tetraploid and 2n = 3x for triploid)? (I have to say, even I use the terms 2N, 3N and 4N now for diploid, triploid and tetraploid...)
some more info (if you are interested):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploidy
Robert