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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Alocasia odora K.Koch
Tender, tuberous-rooted herbaceous plant with ovate leaves, to 90cm long and 75 cm wide on stems to 60cm long, and fragrant, yellowish, spathate flowers. [RHSD, Hortus].
Aloe ferox Mill.
Stemmed aloe, to 4m, with a rosette of thick, tapering leaves, keeled at the back, glaucous, with reddish teeth along the leaf edges and backs, with ornage flowers on a branched inflorescence. [RHSD, Hortus].
Aloe haworthioides Baker
Aloe haworthioides Baker is a frost tender, stemless, suckering succulent with rosettes of lance-shaped, fleshy, grey-green leaves with white marginal teeth, to 6cm long, suffused with red in drought, and terminal racemes, to 30cm long, of tubular orange flowers in summer. To 6cm. [RHSE].
Aloe succotrina Lam.
Aloe with stems to 1.2m, the leaves gradually tapering, pale coloured or glaucous with small white teeth and sometimes blotched at the base, the flowers red in a loose spike, to 30cm high. [RHSD, Hortus].
Alonsoa bicolor Hort.
Identification uncertain, but probably a variety of one of the species grown at this time. Paxton’s Dictionary lists five species, all from south America, all with scarlet flowers: acutifolia (1790), caulialata (1823), incisifolia [warscewiczii] (1795), linearis (1790), together with the hybrid intermedia. The latter was figured in Loddiges’ Botanical Cabinet in 1828, but Macarthur is likely to have used this name rather than bicolor if this is the correct identification.
Alonsoa Jerrises Hort.
Identification uncertain, but probably a variety of one of the species grown at this time. Paxton’s Dictionary lists five species, all from south America, all with scarlet flowers: acutifolia (1790), caulialata (1823), incisifolia [warscewiczii] (1795), linearis (1790), together with the hybrid intermedia. The latter was figured in Loddiges’ Botanical Cabinet in 1828, but Macarthur is likely to have used this name rather than Jerrisses if this is the correct identification.
Aloysia triphylla (L‘Hérit.) Britt.
Frost hardy, bushy, upright, deciduous shrub with whorled, narrow, lance-shaped, lemon-scented leaves and tiny, pale lilac to white flowers in slender panicles in late summer. To 3m. [RHSE].
Alpinia speciosa K.Schum.
Frost-tender, robust, upright, clump-forming, rhizomatous perennial with lance-shaped leaves and fragrant, nodding, white, purple-tinged flowers, with yellow lips striped red and brown in summer. To 3m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br.
Frost-tender tree with ribbed, oval-shaped leaves, to 20cm long, usually 5-7 in a whorl, and cymes of greenish-white flowers. To 20m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Alstroemeria aurea Graham
Frost-hardy, tuberous-rooted perennial with bright orange or yellow flowers, streaked dark red inside, in summer. Many garden cultivars and hybrids exist. To 1m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Alstroemeria hookeri Lodd. subsp. hookeri
This is the probable identification of Macarthur’s Alstroemeria hookeriana. It is a frost-hardy, dwarf, perennial with pink flowers, streaked yellow and purple inside, in summer. To 60cm. [RHSE].
Alstroemeria ligtu L.f. subsp. ligtu 'Barclayana'
See Alstroemeria ligtu subsp. simsii (Spreng) Ehr.Bayer for a description of the species. According to Johnson's and Paxton's Dictionary, ‘Barcleyana’ has crimson flowers, although the Floricultural Cabinet described the flowers as orange. [FC p.274/1849].
Alstroemeria ligtu subsp. simsii (Spreng) Ehr.Bayer
The species, Alstroemeria ligtu, has lance-shaped leaves, to 8cm long, and umbels of up to 24 flowers, whitish or pale lilac or pale red outside, yellow inside, spotted or streaked with white, purple or red, borne on stems to 80cm long, in summer. The Botanical Magazine illustrtation of A. pulchella shows a distinctive deep reddish flower with deep red striations to the petals. [RHSD, Hortus, Baker Am.].
See also Alstroemeria pulchella L.f.
Alstroemeria ornata [Macarthur]
Unidentified Alstroemeria species.
I have been unable to identify this plant. Possibly a nursery name for a variant of one of the popular species of the day.
Alstroemeria pelegrina L.
Spreading, tuberous rooted perrenial, flowers lilac or bright rosy lilac, striped and spotted with red-purple outside. [RHSD, Hortus].
