Sacha wrote:

I sometimes wonder how many people pronounce 'Pinus' correctly........ ;-)

Really Sacha! I never thought that you of all people would slip that
one in Must be the hot weather. Good taste requires that it is Pie
- nus, but I tend to suspect that an Italian might differ though
possibly with a harder 'n' - as in 'Pin-nus'. Since latin is the root
of the modern Italian language, the it seems logical that pronunciation
of latin words should more or less follow the rules for pronouncing
Italian, but without the lilt... theoretically.

That said, plant names are anglicised, germanised, chopped up with
Greek, Sanskrit and generally the result of a pudding-basin full of
different languages from which the Victoria sponge of the modern plant
name springs. Good God this sunshine's getting to me - must take more
alcohol in the shade! Personally, I tend to use shorter vowels
towards the front, slightly longer ones in the middle and shorter ones
again at the end. So for me, manicata is man-ni-cah-ta. Trouble is
when I think about it too long, those a's can take on a decidedly Ozzie
sound.

Back to the shade.