Clem'-a-tis, usually for the plant, by botanists at least.

Cle-Mat'-is or Clem-A'-tis, for the street in West Palm Beach, and by not a few gardners.

"gardeners"

I had one of those proverbial "huh?" moments, similar to the millipede's reaction when asked how he managed all his legs, and went totally blank!! I finally got my memory back, and realized that while I mostly say clem'-a-tis, I do on occasion, say clem-a'-tis. I hadn't realized I used 2 differing pronunciations until I thought about it, so thanks for bringing it up. I will have to watch myself - for no other reason than being consistent.

But then, who was it who said "Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds?" Maybe I won't worry about it.....

Dictionary.com give both ways.
You can here them at this link.
Not sure if it will work for all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dictionary.com

BD2 Thanks for the hear it hear link, I have used dictionary.com for years and never realized it had a pronunciation on it! That is just TOO cool!

And I say Clem'-a-tis, cle-Mat'-tis just sounds wrong to me somehow! LOL.

:) Fran

I use the (audio) Fine Gardening pronunciation guide, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: FG pronunciation

Thanks for the Fine Gardening link! I'd seen the Dictionary.com link, but since it lists both, my only consolation is listing clem' a tis first (that's my choice).
Thanks so much for the input - I wanted to know what people who actually use the word think!

I always say cleMATis and then correct myself and say CLEMatis right afterwards. I always mean to say the second version, but for some reason, when I see the word, my brain automatically pronounces it the first way without me being able to correct myself.

There is no wrong way. Either way and any way is fine. If anyone tells you differently explain to them that scientific nomenclature is a written system of names and was never intended to be corrected if pronounced wrong, there is no wrong way. To be more precise, officially you are to use the type of latin pronunciation used in the church, in the region, at the time of Carolus Linnaeus the person who thought up the system. And there are rules about accenting the third from the last syllable and such, but few people obey them anymore.

One point to be made is that this system of names is used for all living things, not just plants. So it should never be called botanical name or botanical latin name. They use this same system to name fossils and bacteria and fungus and animals, etc.

Personally I prefer to come up with the most obscure pronunciation as possible just to throw people off. Always good for a laugh.

It all just depends on where you come from.....here in the south they seem to like CLEM a tis, where I grew up in NJ I always heard cle MAT is. I use either, we all know what we're talking about! LOL And to add another plant to the "how do you say it" game.... PEONY. I grew up hearing PEE'-O-NEE (accent first syllable), around here they like to say PEE-O'-NEE.(accent second syllable) and look at you weird if you say the other.

A gardening friend commented on the yellow blooms on a shrub nearby, and I agreed I loved for-SIE-thya in the early spring. She stared at me for a few seconds before she got it. Gardeners have strange senses of humor, don't we?