"I fail to see the relevance of the reference to the word ""fuck"" in the pronunciation discussion.  If pronounced with the original German pronunciation, ""fook-sya"" doesn't sound any more like ""fuck"" than the word ""fork"" does and I don't believe the possiblity of mispronunciation as ""fuck-sya"" is what leads most people to say ""fyew-sha"" instead. Pronouncing Latinized botanical names based on words and names from non-Latin languages is always going to be a problem, and there is simply no rule in botanical nomenclature that such names must be pronounced according to the rules of pronunciation of their original language.  "