Maybe Metasequoia glyptostroboides rolls off your tongue now, but there was a time when you felt intimidated by botanical Latin.

When I opened up the Dirr book for my first woody plants class, I laughed out loud.  Yeah, right!  Now I try to work phrases like Ceratostigma plumbaginoides and Hakonechloa macra into the conversation.  Here are some plant names that trip up newbie horticulturists and a few that make experienced ones stumble, too.

Cotoneaster.  It sure looks like “cotton Easter.”  Alas, it is no fluffy-tailed bunny reference, but rather, “Kuh-TONE-e-ass-ter.”  Similarly, Cotinus is not “cotton-us,” but “ko-TINE-us.”

Liriope.  This one has many aliases:  LEER-e-ope, LEER-e-o-pee, lilyturf, monkeygrass, spider plant.  Call it luh-RYE-o-pee, and leave it at that.