There is no wrong way. Either way and any way is fine. If anyone tells you differently explain to them that scientific nomenclature is a written system of names and was never intended to be corrected if pronounced wrong, there is no wrong way. To be more precise, officially you are to use the type of latin pronunciation used in the church, in the region, at the time of Carolus Linnaeus the person who thought up the system. And there are rules about accenting the third from the last syllable and such, but few people obey them anymore. One point to be made is that this system of names is used for all living things, not just plants. So it should never be called botanical name or botanical latin name. They use this same system to name fossils and bacteria and fungus and animals, etc. Personally I prefer to come up with the most obscure pronunciation as possible just to throw people off. Always good for a laugh.

Had typed an entire response before reading BorS.....that pretty much nails it :-) Plants named after real people should be pronounced the same as their name but we US'ers tend to mangle most names from foreign places. And there's the umpteen years of attempting to artificially latinize these names before any kind of uniformity of pronunciation was adopted. FWIW, it may be "correct" but I've yet to hear anyone asking for a 'hoy-ker-uh' at the nursery or using that pronunciation but I hear 'hoo-ker-ah' all the time. Also 'hoo-chair-a' (emphasis on 'chair'!!).

Very interesting thread especially considering the mix of accents & regional variation we have in our family (FL, NC, & NY), so I did some research: From Dictionary.com: cab-i-net [kab-uh-nit] I think it really comes down to how fast you say the word--the faster you say it, the less you hear the 'i' & it becomes 2 syllables vs. 3. The slower you say it the more pronounced the 'i' becomes and you end up with all 3 syllables.) hu-man [hyoo-muhn or, often, yoo‐] I always hated when the 'h' is dropped. Had a highschool teacher for a year who dropped the 'h' & it made me nuts! I'm a fan of phonics, the 'h' is there for a reason-let's pronounce it. car-a-mel [kar-uh-muhl, -mel, kahr-muhl] Pronunciation always seemed regional to me like pee-can vs pe-cahn. But using the rules of phonics, I have to hedge on the side of car-a-mel. I-tal-ian [ih-tal-yuhn] Being 1/2 Italian, I can definitely say it's not pronounced eye-tal-yan or-ange [awr-inj, or-inj] Seems like I use the first pronunciation for the color & the second for the fruit--go figure! wash [wosh, wawsh] Definitely no 'r' in either pronunciation or the spelling Some other interesting facts on the 'English English' language which American English is based on: -"Many varieties undergo h dropping, making harm and arm homophones. This is a feature of working-class accents across most of England, but was traditionally stigmatised (a fact the comedy musical My Fair Lady was quick to exploit) but less so now.[12] This was geographically widespread, but the linguist A.C. Gibson stated that it did not extend to the far north, nor to East Anglia, Essex, Wiltshire or Somerset.[13] In the past, working-class people were often unsure where an h ought to be pronounced, and, when attempting to speak "properly", would often preface any word that began with a vowel with an h (e.g. "henormous" instead of enormous, "hicicles" instead of icicles); this was referred to as the "hypercorrect h" in the Survey of English Dialects, and is also referenced in literature (e.g. the policeman in Danny the Champion of the World)." Source: Wikipedia -"A glottal stop for intervocalic /t/ is now common amongst younger speakers across the country; it was originally confined to some areas of the south-east and East Anglia." Source:Wikipedia. (i.e. the kitten, mitten references: pronounced as ki'en, mi'en) -"The distinction between /w/ and /hw/ in wine and whine is lost in most varieties, "wh" being pronounced consistently as /w/." Source: Wikipedia -"Most versions of this dialect have non-rhotic pronunciation, meaning that [r] is not pronounced in syllable coda position. Nonrhoticism is also found elsewhere in the English speaking world, including in Australian English, New Zealand English, and South African English, as well as most nonnative varieties spoken throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.[10] Rhotic accents exist in the West Country, parts of Lancashire, the far north of England and in the town of Corby, both of which have a large Scottish influence on their speech." Source: Wikipedia. (i.e. Norm Abrams reference on the word 'drawers': draw-ers vs draws).

I speak Latin on a daily basis, being in the medical field. That being said, Botanical Latin is HARD for me to speak, I and I gather that is because it actually was not meant to be spoken. In Medical Latin, you still get variations on pronounciation. But never spelling. Which is why, I, also an English Major, don't focus so much on pronunciation. And, also why I want to follow ENGLISH rules for a LATIN language, that wasn't even designed to be spoken. For example, for acetabulum (the socket where your femur rests in your hip bone), I personally pronounce it: "ey-see-tab-you-lum". Some folks pronounce it, "as-see-tuh-bul-um", others pronounce it, "as-e-tab-you-lum". None of the pronunciations are incorrect, not because they are all correct, but because we all understand what is being referred to, despite cultural differences in dialect and how those differences play in pronunciation of words, if that makes sense. Same with vena cava: it is ALWAYS spelled the same, but some say, "vee-nah cah-vah", and others, "vay-nah cay-vah" or, "vee-nah cay-vuh". When it comes to Botanical Latin, it is even harder, as many plants are named after PEOPLE. Like Hoya siariae. Named after Simeona V. Siar, PhD, Hoya siariae would be easy to pronounce, you'd think. But it is not. See, not only do you have to take into account the Botanical Latin, you also have to take into account the ethincity and locale of the person the plant was named after! I think, please don't quote me, that Simeona was from the Philippines. Their pronunciation of words, including surnames and nouns, will vary from English, and their pronunciation of Botanical Latin will also vary from ours. And, due to differences worldwide, in language AND pronunciation, we cannot subscribe agreed upon rules of pronunciation. Botanical Latin is a worldwide language, which makes it impossible to make rules for. To even attempt ot somewhat correctly pronounce Hoya siariae, you'd have to find someone who knew Simeona or knew her Native language. I don't, so I have to make an educated guess on how to pronounce the botanical name. And, because my language is English, and not Botanical Latin, whatever comes out is OKAY! As long as I do not mis-spell the language, any way I speak it, is fine. My pronunciation guess for Hoya siariae is: Hoy-ah see-ah-ree-ay.