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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Fuchsia Henderson’s ‘Prime Minister’
Edward George Henderson of St. John’s Wood, offered ‘Prime Minister’, a fuchsia of his own breeding, for sale in 'The Gardeners Chronicle' of 1851: ‘Bright, glossy crimson sepals, short and good tube, crimson purple corolla, good habit. A handsome well reflexed variety, that will give much satisfaction.’
Fuchsia Kyle‘s ‘Triumphans’
Kyle’s ‘Triumphans’ was offered for sale by Smith’s of Hackney in The Gardener’s Chronicle, p.314, 1843, in the same advertisement as ‘Transparens’ and ‘Dalstonii’ [GC p.314/1843]. No description was given.
Fuchsia macrantha Hook.
Frost-tender shrub, somewhat downy, with ovate leaves and large drooping clusters of pinkish-red flowers, devoid of a corolla, to 15cm long, in spring and summer. To 90cm. [RHSD].
Fuchsia macrostigma Benth. var. longiflora
Half-hardy, erect shrub with deep crimson flowers, erect to pendant, the corolla somewhat flattened and the tube sepals and corolla a bright, rich red colour, with contrasting very large, white stamens. To 1.5m. [RHSD].
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. gracilis L.H.Bailey
Gracilis forms a floriferous shrub of slender habit with small scarlet and violet-purple flowers. See also Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. conica L.H.Bailey. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers', Don].
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. conica L.H.Bailey
The species Fuchsia magellanica Lam. is a borderline frost-hardy erect shrub with scalloped to toothed leaves, to 6cm long, and small flowers with red tubes, deep red, occasionally white or pale pink, wide-spreading sepals, and purple corollas, produced profusely throughout the summer. The variety conica, very similar to globosa [see T.478], has scarlet and purple flowers and globe-shaped buds. To 3m by 3m. Fuchsia magellanica has been used extensively to produce the modern, hardy fuchsias and makes a useful hedge in low frost areas. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers', Don].
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. globosa (Lindl.) L.H.Bailey
It has scarlet sepals and tube and purple corolla and is probably nearly identical to conica [see T.465]. The points of the sepals tend to adhere as the flowers open giving a globose appearance. [RHSD, Hortus].
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. grandiflora
Hardy shrub with shiny lance-shaped, toothed leaves, opposite or in whorls, and small, nodding, axillary flowers with scarlet tube and sepals and bluish-purple corolla. [RHSD. Hortus, Hilliers']. The variety grandiflora is a large-flowered form of Fuchsia magellanica. Fuchsia grandiflora as described and figured in the Floricultural Cabinet appears to be a form of Fuchsia magellanica: ‘A stiff and very compact grower, a most profuse bloomer, flowers somewhat like F. globosa, but much larger, and of a deep blood colour; its freeness in flowering, compact habits, large flowers, and rich colour, at once stamp its superiority to every other, for rooms, hot house or beds.’ [FC p.172/1835].
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. grandiflora maxima
See Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. grandiflora for detail. Fuchsia grandiflora maxima was described in the Floricultural Cabinet: ‘Sepals purplish-red, corolla nearly the same colour.’ [FC p.213/1841]. This is almost certainly an improved form of Fuchsia grandiflora described in the same journal. This plant appears to be a form of Fuchsia magellanica Lam.
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. var. virgata
‘A variety of coccinea; it grows with an innumerable number of twigs, which in summer are filled with a vast profusion of flowers; the flowers are rather larger than coccinea.’ [FC p.176/1834].
Fuchsia Meillez’ ‘Napoleon’
The Cottage Gardener, 1848, described ‘Napoleon’ as having a pure white tube and crimson corolla, dwarf in habit.
Fuchsia Miller’s ‘Miss Prettyman’
Large glossy white tube and sepals, with blood-purple corolla. [Gard. Chron. 1846].
Fuchsia regia (Vand. ex Vell.) Munz. var. radicans (Miers ex Lindl.) Munz
Frost-tender, erect to twining or trailing perennial, with leathery leaves and solitary or paired pendulous flowers in the axils of the upper leaves, to 5cm long, with bright scarlet red to rose-pink tube and sepals and deep purple petals. To 6m or more. [RHSD].
Fuchsia serratifolia Ruiz & Pav.
Frost-tender, erect to twining shrub or small tree with narrow leaves, to 17cm long, and axillary flowers clustered towards the ends of branches, with pink or light red tubes and sepals, tipped green-white, and slightly wavy, orange to vermillion corolla. To 10m. [RHSD, Hortus]. Fuchsia serratifolia has been described as a variety of F. denticulata with leaves rather more serrated than the type.
Fuchsia serratifolia Ruiz & Pav. var. multiflora
See Fuchsia serratifolia Ruiz & Pav. The variety Fuchsia serratifolia multiflora was described in the Floricultural Cabinet: ‘The handsome species most of our readers know, the present variety is a good acquisition. The flowers are a little less than the former, the tube two inches long, of a pretty rosy-lilac colour, and the corolla a light orange. The plant blooms much more freely than the original species. It merits a place in every collection.’ [FC p.267/1851].
