Where Do I Start With Pronouncing Scientific Names?

[suecar]

That’s a fantastic discussion by Michael Charters - thanks for linking it. I’ve been chastized for “mispronouncing” botanical names but mostly laugh about the criticism. I learned most of the names from texts, and years might pass before I have occasion to say one out loud or hear someone else say it. And accents matter. I once spent two days in the field with a Mexican botanist, and we used only Latin binomials (and my limited Spanish). It took me a while to learn that her “ah-KAH-see-ah” was Acacia, “FEE-koos” was Ficus, “BAH-say-AHN-toos” was Vaseyanthus, and “ee-BEES-koos” was Hibiscus. She did a far better job of understanding me.