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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Ixia ‘Helen’
Hybrid Ixia of unknown parentage. Probably bred at Camden Park but no description is extant.
Ixia ‘Tempe’
Probably a Camden Park hybrid. It had pink flowers but no detailed description is extant.
Ixia ‘Thisbe’
Hybrid Ixia of unknown parentage. Probably bred at Camden Park but no description is extant.
Ixia campanulata Houtt.
Cormous perennial with linear leaves, 3-8 flowers on a congested spike, usually deep red, occasionally white, the tepals spreading. [CECB]. Descriptions of Ixia campanulata given elsewhere are quite variable, which may reflect species variability or differing identification. The RHS Dictionary describes I. campanulata as having up to ten linear leaves, to 20cm long, and a short spike with up to nine, widely bell-shaped or cup-shaped, white flowers, sometimes flushed red or crimson. Grey describes it as having up to four basal leaves, to 25cm, and a slender, rather longer stem with a dense, many-flowered spike of bell-like, reddish to purple flowers in summer. Grey give Ixia speciosa as a synonym but provides a somewhat different description for the latter. He describes it as having a few-flowered spike with glistening, deep crimson flowers, with a pale stripe outside.
Ixia campanulata Houtt. var. alba
See Ixia campanulata Houtt. for a description and discussion. Alba is presumably a pure white-flowered variety of Ixia campanulata, without the usual red or crimson flushing.
Ixia capillaris Thunb. var. aulica
Cormous perennial with up to 4 lance-shaped leaves, to 30cm, a slender flower stem, to 60cm, usually branched and bearing up to 7, lilac, pink, mauve, violet or red-purple flowers in spring or summer. A variable species and descriptions in the literature are correspondingly variable. [RHSD, CECB].
Ixia curta Andr.
There are several possibilities for Macarthur’s ‘dwarf yellow ixia’ among ixias not considered elsewhere in the Hortus, perhaps the most likely being Ixia curta Andr. This is a cormous perennial with lance-shaped leaves and crowded spikes of up to 8 red to purple or cream to yellow flowers with a darker centre. [CECB].
Ixia dubia Vent.
A possibility for Macarthur’s ‘deep orange ixia’ is Ixia dubia Vent. This is a cormous perennial with spikes of orange to golden-yellow flowers, usually dark brown or purple in the centre, flushed red outside, in spring and summer. [RHSD, CECB].
Ixia erubescens Goldblatt
Cormous perennial with very distinctive, linear leaves with markedly crinkled edges, and pink flowers with a reddish ring around a central green marking. [RHSD].
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