Good question.

I tried to find it on line, and don't find it in many dictionaries. The ones that have it don't have the pronunciation.

Anyway, I will attempt to tell you how I pronounce it, though I've never been sure it was correct.

push kin ee ah-like duh without the d, with the accent on 'kin'.

Anyone else care to share their pronunciation?

Sue

Here's a link to a Botanical Dictionary that has most of the commonly encountered plant names listed, along with sources of the names.
Rb

Here is a link that might be useful: Dave's Garden - Botanary, the Botanical Dictionary

Razorback, thanks for that link!

Sue, according to the Botanary, you are correct!

"Named for Count Apollos Mussin-Puschkin, 18th century Russian plant collector" says the Botanary.

Thanks!
VG

zowie...I had never heard it pronounced b4, and whenever I said it in front of plant loving friends, they always just gave me a quizzical/confused look and said something like, "Well whatever you say....."

Sue

Little did they know...lol. Peolpe do that to me when I saw "CLEM-a-tus". They say Cle-MAT-us. And the color mauve. Most everybody says some variation of Mu-ave or Mwave or mahve but according to the dictionary it should be said Mohve (rhymes with cove or rove.) I rarely hear it said that way though. OK off topic, I know!

You're the OP and discussing pronunciation...right?

Oooops...I have been pronouncing clematis wrong I see now.

I alway thought when Martha Stewart pronounced herb with the h sound in front, that she was attempting to start her own new way of pronouncing it, and maybe wanted to see if the whole world would follow her in pronouncing it the 'wrong' way.

I just checked Mr American Heritage, and he shows it pronounced both ways.

She...chilling

Oops! I just saw all the typos in my post about clematis..lol! You're right, I am the OP and discussing pronunciation:-)

I had wondered how to pronounce clematis and saw it in the Fine Garden mag. pronunciation guide as CLEM-a-tus. Maybe it's different in differnt areas?

I hear people say herb with an h occasionally but not often. Martha probably could start a new trend:-)

CLEMatus and Herb (with h pronounced) are the ways to say those words in Great Britain; so there are indeed whole nations who agree with you on the pronunciations. Mauve, rhyming with clove as pointed out; is the accepted way to pronounce it as well. So you aren't the only ones; and you are not mistaken!

There seem to be a lot of people who have trouble with those names, I have heard it many times as well. I find the word Cle-MAT-us unattractive. I don't like herb without the "h", either.

Hopflower,
Interesting! Thanks for supplying the word "clove"! I had the hardest time coming up with a rhyming word:-) I kept thinking of words that could be said two ways like dove.

I grew up saying cleMATus, and everyone in our area said it the same way; so I wonder if it's regional? Chicago accent? Since adulthood I've learned it's really CLEMatis, but since that still sounds weird to me I just avoid saying it as much as possible.

Fortunately I have no problem with mauve. I find whenever I use it I have to explain which color I mean though: isn't that odd? It's not an uncommon color.

BTW, puschkinia is so pretty! I have lots of minor bulbs but always remember the name of this one; possibly because it is odd. I just wish the squirrels didn't like to eat the bulbs so much. I planted at least 100 but have only 2-3 that have shown up. Just have to hope they will spread.

I was hoping the squirrels didn't like them :-( I just found some blooming at my grandparents old place and rescued them from the weeds and grass. I don't have many squirrels but have chipmunks.

They don't seem to bother them when they are blooming: just ate most of the bulbs shortly after planting (like within HOURS). So if you can protect them for a while, that would be good. I used a hot pepper/garlic bulb dip that was supposed to deter them, but they must have liked their dinner with seasoning!

Thanks for the heads up! I planted them Friday and will get out there tomorrow and cover them with some netting or something.