Cattleya orchids. Looks like it should be CAT-leya but is pronounced Catt-LEYA.

Ooo, good one, Bea.

I thought of another one: my good friend calls liriope "LYE-rope". I know what she means. I called it LEER-ee-ope for years, myself... until someone at work laughed at me.

How about Zoysia? I can't say it no matter how it's pronounced.

And do we say specie for one or is it always species? I dunno...

hi

My favorite , johannesteijjsmannia, just rolls off the tongue?? There is NO way you can say that in latin lol

Another is Coelogyne but at least it's descriptive?? lol

Even then better than common names ??. One that really caught my eye "palm orchid" Obviously it couldn't be either one If a sales gimmick it worked i bought it just because of the name lol

Wouldn't you think a "tree fern and a' Fern tree ' might be related ?? lol gary

Carol good one on liriope. I still call it like you do.

Gary when we get into common names it makes me crazy. So many plants have common names but they're not even related botanically. For instance daylilies and blackberry lilies. The first one is in the Xanthorrhoeaceae family and the latter in the Iridaceae family. Blackberry lilies aren't lilies at all. They're irises! Here are two great articles to read for fun:

http://northscaping.com/IZArticles/IS-0134

http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/education/scientific-and-common-plant-names

I know many people pronounce bromeliad bromolad or something like that.

A few others I read about are:

Clematis is supposed to be KLEM-uh-tis, not kli-MAT-is

Fuchsia is supposed to be FOOK-see-ah, not few-SHAH

Heuchera is supposed to HOY-ker-us

Viola is supposed to be VI-uh-luh and not vi-OH-luh which is the musical instrument.

Honorable mention, potato is po-TĀ-to, but could be po-TAH-to depending on where you're from.

In the great classic movie "Rear Window," Jimmy Stewart pronounces zinnias as ZEN-yahs. I always say ZEEN-yahs. No idea which is correct.

Bill

Uh, ZIN-yahs?

Off topic, but when I learned of the fringe tree on GW, the name fascinated and stuck so much that ever since I learned of the "tassel" (wild)flower that grows in my yard, I have had to fight my memory to call it that and not "fringe flower".

It's not Gerber Daisy. - it's " ga - BEAR - ah" daisy.

Grandpa used to grow them.

And my old boss, with his knowledge of latin,

I brought a aristolochia gigantea bloom in the office.

He couldn't pronouce the first word, but the second word is "gee - and - taaa - ah.

............cheryl

Weigela (wee-GEE-la) is sometimes pronounced WIGGLE-uh.

Cotoneaster is ko-TONY-aster not COTON-Easter.

Poinsettia is poin-SET-eea not poin-SETA. That second 'i" is not silent.

Cah-LAD-eeums or Cah-LAY-deums? Icks-or-uh or Eye-zor-uh? It took a while to learn the truth on Liriope, though I'm still not fully convinced after growing up in an area where everyone, if they weren't calling it Monkey Grass, called it Leer-ee-Op and run into as many people pronouncing it that was as the other.

If you really want a linguistic workout, watch some horticultural shows from across the pond. When you hear British speaking 'proper English' pronounce some of the words, it could take you, as it did me a couple times, a few minutes to realize they are talking about plants you are fairly familiar with.

Just LOVE all these responses! You all have so many good ones - and I'm learning a lot. Michael, you made me laugh out loud with your comment about the British!

Thought of another one: Hawaiian Ti Plant (cordyline): "Tye" or "Tee"?

Carol

everyone, if they weren't calling it Monkey Grass, called it Leer-ee-Op

Interesting. I grew up in Miami and never heard it called anything other than lir-EYE-oh-pee, at least in English. Maybe it's a regional thing?

I'd say the top choice for eliciting a variety of pronunciations is Agastache. I give it the German-style pronunciation-ay'-guh-stack-ee, but I've heard just about every other possible variation!

+oM

I was told cordyline's correctly pronounced "Tee".

may be this link will help

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coir?s=t

Great topic, Carol! I am learning a thing or two, as usual.

I know now, after years of saying Hawaiian "Tye" that I should be saying "Tee", but I just hate to say that. It doesn't sound correct. Same with CRY-num . . .back in the 70's when Jim Thomas had Bioscape in Longwood, he ID'd some bulbs for me and called them "CRIN-um", so that's what they will always be for me. And I get a kick out of my Mom saying liriope is "Larry-o-pee".

And how DO you say bromeliad?

hi

Here is a good example i asked on the Austalian forum if they thought my "stag horn and "elkhorn ferns were too close together. They informed me that the one on the right is an eklhorn while the one on the left is not a horn at all lol probably an Asplenium . It was sold to me as "elkhorn " and was called that in Costa Rica lol feel certain it's not Asplenium lol

"Horn 'or not obviously two different species for sure lol BTW Nobody ever did tell me if too close together lol gary

Well then, let me be the one to tell you-no, they're just fine like that, whatever they're called!

+om

So Gary they basically told you it's a bird's nest fern, Asplenium being the genus in which bird nests belong. There is one called Asplenium antiquing that kind of looks like yours but I'm not too sure.

I just noticed the damn autocorrect changed antiquum to antiquing

I don't know if there is enough room between the two ferns, have you seen how big the stag horns get? I've seen them hanging from trees on logging chains. Mine is mounted on a post and is as big as a small car tire. And I have a fern that I was told was elk horn that looks just like the one you have, that also multiplies very quickly. Mine is planted in the ground so I don't know if that would make a difference.

Hi

Well, everybody agreed that the right one is platycerium bifrucatum which I know as "Stag horn " not Elkhorn lol To the left has no birds nest habit at all but creeps in a straight line producing aerial roots as holdfasts without the hair of "foot" ferns Nnone of my Aspleniums have this habit. but was informed all Aspleniums are not birds nests lol

Oh well the plants answered my ?? for me the "Staghorn completely covered the elkhorn with shields and it's still a baby lol Guessing at around 6 feet too close lol

All problamatic anyway as the tree they are growing on gets an award as the "Worlds worst landscape plant "" has every bad habit known to science so will have to be cut down anyway Interestingly the tree is debatable also as the seeds were sold to me as Schizolobium amazonicum while everyone IDS it as parahyba even Kew said there is no "amazonicum lol

Will have to wait anyway as some woodpeckers found it a wonderful place to raise a family and looks like they're at it again Ah the wonders of nature !! gary

garyfla ive been trying to figure out what those were called and why I see so many people hanging them from their trees forever. thanks

Gary, I have the one one the left listed as Polypodium grandiceps. Maybe they changed the name. Anyway, I've done what you did but I mounted it on a plaque of wood and it worked well. The Poly ended up growing longer fronds because of the competition tho

Trini

I've mostly grown it in pots over the years and found that it will climb trees lol When i mounted the staghorn i just put some up to see what it would do

have been thinking of putting some in a tree fern bed but it scares me lol

Have never understood the classification of non flowering plants many in the same genus look entirely different .with entirely different growth habits. Will leave that to the botanists lol recently saw something similar in a local nursery and they had it labeled "frilly dragons tongue"" Now that's using your imagination!!! lol gary

Much of recent change in plant taxonomy now coming from genetic analysis. Kinda hard to argue with the genes!

+oM

Even though you have tried to enlighten me on how to pronounce these words I think I will be stuck in my old ways.

Here is the one I like: I grow roses and one older one is Ducher...not pronounced like it looks. Can you say Do-Shay? Sounds much better.

And let's not get in to succulents! OMG everyone says the names differently. Someone told me if you say the names with authority in your voice then folks will think your pronunciation is the correct one. ;-)

I can't believe I still have to come back to this thread to find the pronunciation of "coir". But it is worth it because I love all of these posts!

My neighbor was asking me just this morning if she could cut some of my hy-drain-geas. (I say hy-dran-geas.) Not sure which is correct. But I knew what she meant and I said yes! :)

"It's not Gerber Daisy. - it's " ga - BEAR - ah" daisy."

This is incorrect. The plant was named for a botanist named Gerber, so it is GER-ber-ah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbera.

And do we say specie for one or is it always species? I dunno...

Just noticed this one. Specie is money. One plant type is still a species, even if Rod Serling did call one human individual a "specie" on the original Twilight Zone.

ETA Many singular Greek words end in "s", hence many Greek-derived Latin words, too. Another one that is consistently misused as a plural in English is "kudos". Kudos is, not kudos are, and you can say someone deserves much kudos, not many kudos.

"Fuchsia is supposed to be FOOK-see-ah, not few-SHAH" Sorry, can't let that go unchallenged.

Fuchsia