So this article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette claims.

The web site in question provides audio files of someone saying the Latin name of the plant. I think that this link should get you to the page. Then you have to type in a plant name (Latin or English) and click on the 'Hear the scientific name' link.

By DOUG OSTER, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Published: Friday, Mar. 4, 2005

Can you say Crataegus phaenopyrum? Or would you rather stick with the plant’s common name, Washington hawthorn? Maybe you’d just settle for calling it a pretty tree.

Latin names are an important tool in properly identifying garden plants, but it can be intimidating to try to say them in front of other gardeners, especially smart ones who are practiced in the finer points of horticultural Latin.

Well, now you can relax. No matter how you said it, you were probably right, and that comes from someone who knows.

Elaine Eberlin spent an entire summer recording 1,100 plant names for Ohio State University’s Web site, WebGarden (webgarden.osu.edu).

“There are several pronunciations for most names. There is no correct single way,” she said.

I always thought one of my favorite plants, corydalis, was pronounced co-RID-alis. But on the site, Eberlin pronounces it cora-DIL-is.

She rates Elaeagnus angustifolia as one of the tougher names to say. I think her performance of Hunnemannia fumariifolia “Sunlite” is pretty impressive.

Currently a systems specialist for horticulture and crop sciences at the university, Eberlin graduated in 2001 and two years later worked with Dr. Tim Rhodus on the project. She researched pronunciations by consulting other plant experts, but in some cases was unable to find any help.

What sets OSU’s site apart is the audio quality of the file and the skill with which Eberlin pronounces the names. She says she loves plants but didn’t want to spend 14-hour days out in the field. She enjoys the challenges the Web provides and is happy to be warm and dry when it’s the opposite outside.

“I was happy to be able to work in horticulture but in a different way than most people think of, not out digging in the dirt or running a nursery.”

Rhodus launched the OSU horticulture site in 1994. It’s a huge site filled with information and receives between 3 million and 5 million hits a month.

Plant junkies can spend hours searching and learning on the site, which includes a downloadable plant database called Pocket Gardener for handhelds. The Plantfacts area has illustrated garden questions, a glossary, image database, video database and Internet search engine.

“It’s just like Google, but if you type in ‘apple,’ you’ll never get Apple computers,” Rhodus said.

He wants everyone to be able to benefit from the Web, though he understands the intimidation some older gardeners might feel about computers.

“It’s not passing you by. The friendly librarian can go a long way in easing you over that first hurdle,” he said.

One benefit of the OSU site is that it is unbiased, sponsored by a university rather than a commercial enterprise.

To find the pronunciations, go to webgarden.osu.edu and click on Plant Facts. Search for a plant by name or scroll down to Images. Clicking on the name of a plant will bring up a button that says, “Hear the scientific name.”

It’s good to know that if you say CLEM-a-tis and I say clem-A-tis, we’re both right.