Plants in the Hortus
Many of the plants described here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861. A large number of additional plants were identified from correspondence, gardening notebooks and other documents surviving in the archives. The Hortus attempts to describe all the plants grown in the gardens at Camden Park and those grown in horticultural enterprises such as orchards and vineyards and includes plants grown outside the gardens in the park-like environs of the Camden Park estate. The Hortus plants served a wide range of purposes in the 19th century household; as ornament, living fences, fibre, dyestuffs, medicines, food and drink from the garden, orchard and vineyard and many others.
Abelia chinensis R.Br.
Frost-hardy, spreading, deciduous shrub with glossy, dark green leaves and terminal panicles of fragrant, funnel-shaped, pink-tinged white flowers in summer and autumn. To 1.5m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abelia floribunda Dcne.
Half hardy evergreen shrub with arching shoots and glossy, dark green leaves, with profuse terminal panicles of pendant, tubular, bright cerise flowers in early summer. To 3m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abelia species unidentified
An unidentified species. In the 1857 catalogue the specific name is missing. This may be an error as Abelia floribunda, first listed in the 1850 catalogue, is missing from the 1857 edition. Abelia floribunda may have been intended here.
Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik.
Frost-tender, evergreen shrub with an erect stem, large 7-lobed leaves and large, white or sulphur-yellow flowers, to 15cm across, with a large maroon blotch at the base, either singly or in few-flowered racemes. To 2m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Abelmoschus moschatus Medik.
An erect or trailing herb or sub-shrub, depending on the variety, with variable but usually lobed leaves. The subspecies moschatus has single yellow flowers with a dark purple basal spot. Subspecies tuberosus is a trailing plant with red flowers and an underground tuber. The plant dies back to this tuber in the dry season, emerging again with the wet season. [FNSW, internet sources]. Widely cultivated in tropical regions.
Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. var. florepleno
For information on the species see Abelmoschus moschatus Medik. A number of colour forms have been recorded in the several subspecies, from near white through yellow to deep red, but I have found no reference to a form with double flowers.
Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.
North eastern North America
Fully-hardy, evergreen conical tree with smooth grey bark, leaves, to 2.5cm long, arranged in a V-shape on the shoots, and purplish blue cones, to 8cm long. To 15m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abies cephalonica Loud.
Fully-hardy, evergreen conical tree with spreading crown in old age, glossy leaves, to 3cm long, arranged radially around each shoot, and cylindrical, tapering, resinous green-brown cones, to 16cm long. To 30m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abies pindrow Royle
Beautiful large tree of slender, conical habit, leaves bright green, with two greyish-white bands beneath, the winter buds large and orange-brown. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abies pinsapo Boiss.
Fully-hardy, evergreen tree with a conical crown , becoming untidy with age, with grey-blue leaves, to 2cm long, arranged radially around the shoots, and cylindrical cones, to 15cm long, ripening to brown. To 25m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abies procera Rehd.
Fully-hardy, evergreen conical tree, becoming broad and columnar, with whorled branches when young, silvery bark, 2-ranked, bluish leaves, to 3.5cm long, and cylindrical green and brown cones, to 25cm long, on the upper branches. To 45m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abies religiosa Lindl.
Fully-hardy, evergreen tree with downward-sweeping stems, tapered and curved leaves, to 3.5cm long, reddish-brown when young, and cylindrical cones, to 15cm long, bluish when young. To about 15m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abies spectabilis (D.Don) Spach.
Half-hardy, variable, evergreen tree with stout, reddish-brown young shoots, dense, two-ranked leaves, to 6cm long, and cylindrical cones, to 18cm long, violet-purple when young. To 45m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Abrus precatorius L.
Frost tender deciduous climber, the leaves consisting of numerous pairs of oblong leaflets, and red to pale purple, rarely white, flowers in spring, followed by oblong pods, to 6cm long. To 3.5m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Abutilon bedfordianum St.Hil.
Half-hardy small tree with serrated, ovate leaves, to 20cm long, and usually solitary axillary, erect yellow flowers, conspicuously streaked with deep red veins. To 4.5m. [RHSE].
