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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Iris sibirica L. var. acuta Willd.
See Iris sibirica L. var. flexuosa for a description of Iris sibirica. Iris acuta is described by Dykes as a dwarf plant with narrow foliage, otherwise indistinguishable from the species.
Iris sibirica L. var. flexuosa
The type species, Iris sibirica, is a fully-hardy rhizomatous, beardless iris with narrow, grass-like leaves and branching stems bearing up to five blue-violet and white flowers in summer. There are numerous cultivars. Iris sibirica var. flexuosa is a white-flowered form with crisped segments. To 1.2m. [RHSE, Lynch, Hortus].
Iris sibirica L. var. orientalis
A rhizomatous, beardless, Siberian iris with red-purple flowers. See Iris sibirica L. var. flexuosa for a description of the type Iris siberica. [RHSE, Dykes, Hortus].
Iris spuria L. subsp. halophila (Pall.) B.Mathew & Wendelbo.
A very vigorous and hardy, free-flowering rhizomatour iris with white, dingy white-yellow or grey-purple flowers, sometimes golden yellow. [RHSD, BIS, Lynch].
Iris spuria L. subsp. notha (Bieb.) Asch. & Grabn.
See Iris spuria L. ssp. spuria for a description of the type species. The flower spikes of notha bear up to 5, violet-blue blooms with yellow-striped falls. [RHSD, Hortus].
Iris spuria L. subsp. spuria
Fully-hardy, robust, very variable, rhizomatous iris with tough, broad leaves and branched stems bearing several blue, yellow or white flowers in summer. To 90cm. [RHSE, Hortus, Lynch].
Iris subbiflora Brot.
A hardy, evergreen rhizomatous iris with leaves to 30cm long and 2.5cm wide. The flowers are violet, coarsely veined brown and purple, with bluish beards, shading to dull yellow. [RHSD, Hortus, BIS].
Iris susiana L.
Frost-hardy, rhizomatous, bearded iris with stems bearing solitary grey and purple flowers in spring. To 40cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Iris variegata L.
Fully-hardy, rhizomatous bearded iris with branched stems bearing 3-6 pale yellow flowers with brown or violet veins in mid-summer. To 45cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Iris versicolor L.
Rhizomatous Iris with somewhat glaucous leaves and terminal clusters of claret-purple flowers. To 60cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Iris vulgaris Pohl
Iris vulgaris is now recognized as a form of Iris germanica L. which see. According to Dykes in England the commonest, or ‘vulgar’, form of Iris germanica has blue-purple standards and falls of a slightly redder shade. Iris germanica is somewhat variable and the form grown by Macarthur as Iris vulgaris was probably recognisably different to the plant he grew as Iris germanica. For this reason they have been treated separately in the Hortus.
Iris x lurida Ait.
Iris lurida is a confused name. Iris x lurida Ait. is probably a hybrid between Iris variegata L. and Iris pallida Lam., a variety of I. germanica. These species cross freely where their ranges coincide. It was figured by Redouté at the end of the 18th century and is sometimes called Iris redoutiana Spach. It is variable, but intermediate between the parents, with maroon to purple-brown flowers with yellow beards, spring flowering, often with an autumn flush. [RHSD, Hortus].
