matteeccia in a fern catalogue

Ostrich fern is sold under its common name almost as often as under its Latin one, and that is the way out of this. If the spelling will not come, matteuccia is the only fern in general cultivation that looks like a shuttlecock and holds stiff brown fertile fronds upright through the winter, and any nursery search for ostrich fern will land on it.

An unstressed vowel, flattened until it gives the ear no information.