Gardeners, even Master Gardeners, often grumble that they feel intimidated about pronouncing the Latin names of plants.

I was at a friend's house recently, and admired a lovely dark green, shiny creeping shrub she had around her patio. I asked her what it was. She said something like, "ku-TONY-aster." I said, "ku-what?" And the light bulb suddenly turned on! It took me about 4 milliseconds to realize that this was in fact, COTONEASTER, and had nothing to do with cotton, or easter, or bunny cotton tails, which is what I always thought of whenever I read the word anywhere. And for some reason, this newfound pronunciation makes the plant itself MUCH more interesting and lovely!

Scientific or botanical plant names come from Latin and/or Greek and are precise because they tell you something about the plant. These names are accepted internationally, and a cotoneaster plant in California is the same plant in China or Africa or wherever it grows. Scientific names describe a characteristic of the plant (hairy, short, twin seeds), show a relationship to other plants (similar to a plant from another country, similar to another genus), honor a person or place, or are derived from history (an ancient use or the name of an ancient country where the plant was first recorded). Some plant names are not Latin or Greek based and may come from another language entirely, such as the "kalanchoe." How do you pronounce it? Is it "KAL-AN-KO" or "KAL-AN-KO-EE"? Surprise, it's neither! It's Chinese and is pronounced "KAL-AN-CHO-EH," with the emphasis on the second syllable.

Many scientific names have made their way into the common name vocabulary: Geranium, Delphinium, Aster, Orchid, Penstemon, Anemone, etc. There really is nothing difficult about pronouncing, or remembering, scientific names. Kids readily do it. Just think about how they can pronounce the names of dinosaurs. Mind-blocks stop the rest of us from doing it, but once we attempt it and master it, we find that it allows us to understand plants better and communicate about them far more readily. One of my favorite spring flowers is the Ranunculus. Iâm glad that no one ever told me that it was Latin, or I might never have learned how to pronounce it.

William Stearn, considered the authority on botanical Latin (his book Botanical Latin is the standard) states, "How [scientific names] are pronounced really matters little provided they sound pleasant and are understood by all concerned." The secret is to not worry about HOW to pronounce the words, but to just give it your best shot and sound them out, syllable by syllable, letter by letter.

Even The Jepson Manual emphasizes the following points: (1) classical scholars don't always agree on pronunciation; (2) professional botanists vary significantly in their pronunciation; (3) individual botanists rarely are completely consistent in pronunciation; and (4) people tend to pronounce names the way they first learned them regardless of any subsequently-encountered rules.

The Sunset Garden Book includes a pronunciation guide, and a quick Google search brought up numerous pronunciation guides on the Internet. But if youâre like me, you want to actually hear how the word is supposed to sound when itâs spoken. I found two website sites (and there may be many more) that will actually say the word for you: the Fine Gardening magazineâs Latin pronunciation guide at http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/spg017.asp http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/spg017.asp> and the University of Connecticutâs Plant Database at http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/index.html http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/index.html> .

Keep in mind that pronunciation of words in any language is not always a hard-and-fast matter. Scientific names are pronounced differently in various parts of the world, even among English speaking countries, even in the Central Valley. As the popular song goes: "You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to..." So enjoy broadening your Latin vocabulary and keep in mind, if you can't remember the preferred pronunciation of a plant name, just say a chosen interpretation with conviction. Almost every gardening book ever written gives the same advice. Itâs because no one is sure how to pronounce many of the names. Whatâs more, youâll find almost every ãexpertä pronounces them differently. Master scientific names and you can walk a trail, meet someone who speaks a foreign language, and the two of you can still talk about plants. Her Chinese scientific name for the plant is the same as your name for the plant, even if you pronounce it a little differently.

Dorothy M. Downing is part of the Tulare-Kings Master Gardener Program. Call 582-3211, ext. 2736, e-mail cekingsdavis.edu or write UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners, 680 N. Campus Drive, Suite A, Hanford, CA 93230.

(Feb. 7, 2007)