Gee, That’s Fun to Say!

My neighbor, Karen, and I were walking to the coffee shop the other morning. We needed a little caffeine boost before we started a mega-weeding project for another of our neighbors. On the way, we passed some moss roses, or portulaca. Karen told me a story about how her nephew REALLY likes to say “portulaca” because it’s so fun! I thought that was a good story and told her that I had been saying the word ratibida almost all day on Tuesday after having purchased one that morning. I couldn’t get the word (or the plant) out of my head! It was fun to say!

After our weeding project, I thought about the other botanical names that are fun to say. My list includes some plants and some plant families. Here goes: Ranunculus, Agapanthus, Taxus, Buxus, Oleander, Tiarella, Rhododendron, Plumbago, Polemonium, Anemone, Brassicaceae, and Solanaceae.

I found a web site that not only shows you the phonetic pronunciation for botanical names, it pronounces them for you when you click on a name! How cool is that?!
Note: The site includes pronunciations for plants only – not plant families.

Do you have a plant name that’s fun to say?! Post a comment and let me know!