names of people and plants
Diane Whitehead (Thu, 10 Apr 2003 20:23:59 PDT)

I like to honour the person whose name is commemorated by pronouncing
a plant name like the person's name. So, since Clivia was named for
Clive, I use a long i.

People think I'm a bit strange when I talk about MacAdamia nuts
instead of Maca dame ia nuts.

You can't always tell about names, though. Some of our common
Pacific Coast plants were named for Menzies, but apparently in
Scotland, where he came from, his name is pronounced something like
'Mingies', and I'm not sure whether that should be a hard or soft g.
I still pronounce the z.

--
Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8
cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
sandy soil