Coleus will be in use for many years to come.

Join the rebellion. :)

"Coleus" will simply become the common name of the plant (which it pretty much already was), much as "mimosa" often means Albizzia julibrissin, "geranium" often means Pelgargonium, and "gloxinia" usually means Sinningia speciosa.

Thats as bad as setcresia purpurea. I just call it my crazy purple Mexican Wandering Jew. I'll stick to Coleus for now.-Sandy

How do you actually pronounce Coleus, if someone kind could tell me. Is it Koll-LAY-uss, or KOHL-ayuss, or what?

According to the Timber Press Dictionary of plant names it is pronounced KO-lee-us. From the Greek koleos, meaning sheath, referring to the stamens which are united into a tube.
I thought you'd be asking how to pronounce Solenestemon scuttelarioides, which I think folks would find more difficult. My books didn't have it but I found it online at:
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/spg017.asp
Here goes:
sol-en-oh-STEM-on skoot-el-lar-ee-OY-deez
However, I disagree slightly as one primary rule of pronouncing botanical names (and which makes it easier) is that you should pronounce all vowels, NOT combine them. So I would pronounce "OY-deez" as "oh-i-deez" (in which the i is short).

The S.s. name is more descriptive of the plant. the species name Coleus blumei just meant that a guy named Blume found/named it. I wish I could find the origin of Solenostemon, but scutellarioides means "resembling a Scutellaria", which is a genus of plants commonly called scullcaps. This is from the Latin scutella meaning small dish. Their fruit apparently looks like a small dish or shield. So your Coleus has fruit similar to a Skullcap.

More than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but botanical names can tell a story.

Update to previous message:
A friend came through with the meaning of Solenostemon for me:
> solen -- tube or cylindrical
> and stemon -- stamen; the stamens are joined at
> the base of the corolla tube.

Kmrsy, I understood that in Latin all I's are long, and vowels pronounced individually, so to me, it would be "ee-oh-ee-deez".

Offhand I'm thinking of hosta kikutii, which is properly pronounced keekootee-ee. Although naturally most people would say keekootee, and some say keekootee-eye.

Oh, I should say that I'm remembering from a discourse with W. George Schmidt, author of The Genus Hosta and uh...The Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials, iirc. I could well be mis-remembering, though!

Kmrsy, I understood that in Latin all I's are long, and vowels pronounced individually, so to me, it would be "ee-oh-ee-deez".

Offhand I'm thinking of hosta kikutii, which is properly pronounced keekootee-ee. Although naturally most people would say keekootee, and some say keekootee-eye.

Oh, I should say that I'm remembering from a discourse with W. George Schmidt, author of The Genus Hosta and uh...The Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials, iirc. I could well be mis-remembering, though!

Kmrsy, I cannot believe that I did not find your answer to my question re. pronunciation of coleus until now. How rude you must think me! I was still wondering about this a couple of weeks ago, so thank you very much indeed for the answer, and I'm so sorry I only saw it now! Since I came to GW I've almost always been on Houseplants - I must have butterflied in one day in February 2004 and forgotten then where I asked the question!