polietrikum, put right

heard as polietrikum

spelled polytrichum

Polytrichum. The y is a single letter, and the k sound is a ch.

What the ear did

Writing ie for a short i sound is a reasonable English instinct, but the y in polytrichum comes straight from the Greek and does not move.

Sound decision: two sound decisions at once. Said pol-ee-TRIK-um.

P-O-L-Y-T-R-I-C-H-U-M

The full entry for polytrichum covers the name itself.