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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Gladiolus undulatus L.
See Gladiolus cuspidatus Jacq. Forms known to early botanists as Gladiolus undulatus were shorter-growing plants with pale yellow flowers with a broad red stripe through the centre of each petal, borne on a slender stem. [Allen]. The great variation between plants no doubt accounts for the retention of several names until at least this period. Gladiolus cuspidatus Jacq., which see, is now recognised as synonymous with Gladiolus undulatus L., the latter being the valid botanical name. They are recorded as separate species in Hortus Camdenensis to both differentiate the plants grown by Macarthur and to emphasise the difference between forms recorded by early botanists. The description given here is of plants that were specifically recorded as Gladiolus undulatus.
Gladiolus watsonia x alatus
Gladiolus watsonius x Gladiolus alatus hybrid. No description is extant.
Gladiolus watsonius Thunb.
Half-hardy cormous perennial from the Cape with basal leaves to 70cm, and spikes bearing up to 6 bright red or orange red flowers, to 7.5cm long, yellow in the throat, in summer. To 70cm. [CECB, RHSD, Hortus].
Gladiolus x colvillii Sweet
‘Colvillii’ hybrids are early flowering, with small, widely open flowers, the type having crimson and white flowers and growing to 60cm. Many cultivars have been produced, with dark pink, yellow or white blooms in late spring. The ‘Nanus” hybrids, still popular today, were later developed from them. [RHSD, Hortus, PD].
Gladiolus x gandavensis Van Houtte
A hybrid gladiolus with broad leaves and long spikes of flowers in a range of colours, often streaked and marked with contrasting colour. The accompanying figure shows flowers with ground colours of white, pale yellow, pale pink through to deep red.
Gladiolus x insignis Paxt.
Gladiolus carneus x Gladiolus cardinalis hybrid. ‘A handsome hybrid, with very long, narrow leaves, and apparently drooping flower stalks, on which the blossoms are borne chiefly on the upper side. Flowers of a rich and reddish crimson hue, having a dash of bluish purple in the centre of the lower petals.’ The plant was drawn at Lucombe and Pince’s nursery. They had purchased Colville’s stock some years earlier. [MB p.223/1840]. Paxton’s Dictionary also describes it as crimson, growing to 45cm, while the Floricultural Cabinet describes it as deep rose-crimson. [FC p.257/1851]. ‘A good variety in the ‘Ramosus’ tribe, together with G. splendens.’ [Gard. Chron. 1851].
Gladiolus x nanus Hort.
Each corm produces 2-3 slender spikes, up to 35cm long, with up to 7 loosely arranged flowers in a range of colours on each stem. [RHSE]. Spring flowering hybrids.
Gladiolus x ramosus Paxt.
Gladiolus cardinalis x G. oppositiflorus hybrid, with heavy and broad leaves and flowers of a rosy-blush colour, with heavy carmine stains on the three lower divisions. [Grey].
Gleditsia frutescens [Macarthur]
Frutescens means shrubby, bushy [Stearn] and Gleditsia frutescens is probably a shrubby variety, possibly a nursery name for a garden variety of one of the commonly grown species described here. Perhaps the most likely is Gleditsia sinensis Lam. var. nana, syn. Gleditsia nana Hort. ex Dippel, a dwarf form probably introduced to cultivation between 1840, when Paxton’s Dictionary was originally published, and 1849 when a second edition was published with a supplement.
Gleditsia japonica Miq.
Fully-hardy, formidably armed tree with flattened thorns to 8cm long, pinnate leaves, and fruits to 30cm long, often twisted at maturity. To 20m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Gleditsia sinensis Lam.
Fully-hardy medium-sized tree with branched spines, fern-like, pinnate leaves, and racemes of small, green-white flowers, followed by straight, flat but thick fruits, to 25cm long. To 12m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Gleditsia triacanthos L.
Spreading, deciduous tree with a spiny trunk and shoots, the spines branched and up to 15cm long. It has pinnate leaves, to 25cm long, composed of up to 24 leaflets, and pendant, sickle-shaped seed pods, to 45cm long, in summer and autumn. To 30m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Gleichenia microphylla R.Br.
Rhizomatous, creeping, clump-forming terrestrial fern with pinnate leaves with slightly recurved margins. [RHSD, FNSW, Beadle].
Gloriosa superba L.
Very variable species formerly thought to be at least three distinct species. Frost-tender, tuberous-rooted climbing perennial with glossy lance-shaped leaves which narrow to form terminal tendrils. The flowers have wavy-margined petals of red or purple, often yellow-edged or entirely yellow. Summer flowering. To 2m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Gloriosa superba L. var. virescens
See Gloriosa superba L. for information on the species. Virescens has deep orange and yellow flowers, the margins of the segments slightly undulated rather than crisped, as in the type Gloriosa superba. The variety grandiflora is most commonly met with in gardens. [RHSD, Hortus].
