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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.

Libocedrus tetragona Endl.

Fully hardy coniferous pyramidal tree with leaves in four ranks, giving shoots a four-sided appearance, and small cones. To 35m or more. [RHSE, Hortus].

Ligustrum japonicum Thunb.

Fully-hardy, upright, dense, evergreen shrub, with ovate, glossy leaves, to10cm long, and panicles, to 15cm long, of white flowers, in summer and autumn, followed by black fruit. To 3m. [RHSE, Hortus, FNSW, Hilliers’].

Ligustrum lucidum Ait.

Fully-hardy, conical, evergreen tree or shrub with ovate, tapered, glossy leaves, to 15cm long, and panicles, to 20cm long, of white flowers in summer and autumn, followed by blue-black fruit. An excellent ornamental hedging species. To 10m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’, Beadle].

Ligustrum vulgare L.

Fully-hardy, bushy, deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub with lance-shaped leaves, to 6cm long, and panicles, to 5cm long, of white flowers in summer, followed by black fruit. To 3m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Lilium aurantiacum Pax.

‘A handsome new species of lily, from Japan, discovered and introduced by Dr. Siebold; the flowers are large and expansive, the petals very slightly recurved, and of a beautiful dark orange colour.’ The flowers were shown as orange-pink, bowl-shaped, the petals well separated, slightly reflexed at the tips. [MB p.189/1838].

Lilium bulbiferum L.

Fully-hardy, vigorous, clump-forming lily with lance-shaped leaves and bulbils produced in the upper leaf axils. In summer it produces 1-5-flowered umbels, occasionally many-flowered racemes, of unscented, bowl-shaped, bright orange-red flowers with black or maroon spots. To 1.5m. Lilium bulbiferum, of more easterly origin than its varieties, such as croceum, is the only form to bear bulbils in its leaf axils. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium bulbiferum L. var. croceum (Chaix.) Pers.

see Lilium bulbiferum L. for a description of the species. The variety croceum is a tall growing variety, to 1.8m, with bright orange flowers and does not produce bulbils. According to Grey, Lilium aurantiacum var. Chaixii, which is probably synonymous with croceum, flowers earlier than the type. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium canadense L.

Fully-hardy lily with rhizomatous bulbs, whorls of lance-shaped leaves and, in summer, umbels, occasionally racemes, of up to 30 faintly-scented, trumpet-shaped, yellow flowers, spotted inside with maroon. To 1.6m. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium canadense L. var. rubrum cruentum

Rubrum cruentum means ‘red, stained with blood colour’ [Stearn]. Hortus reports that plants sold in the USA as Lilium rubrum are often forms of Lilium canadense, such as coccineum [see Lilium canadense L.], a practice already established in 1840 in England: ‘Lilium Rubrum.-This is a form of Canadense; the colour of the flowers is red.’ [BF p.210/1840]. See Lilium canadense L. for a description of the species. A number of colour forms occur in the wild.

Lilium candidum L.

Fully-hardy lily with broad, inversely lance-shaped over-wintering basal leaves appearing in autumn. In summer stiffly erect stems bear scattered smaller leaves and, in mid-summer, racemes of 5-20 sweetly-scented, trumpet-shaped, pure white flowers with yellowish bases and bright yellow anthers. To 1.8m. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium chalcedonicum L.

Fully hardy, stem-rooting lily with spirally arranged, lance-shaped leaves, to 12cm long, with silver hairy margins, and racemes of up to 12 unpleasantly scented, bright red turkscap flowers, to 8cm across, in summer. To 1.5m. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium concolor Salisb.

Fully-hardy stem-rooting lily with reddish-green stems with broadly lance-shaped leaves and racemes or umbels of up to 10 fragrant, star-shaped, glossy scarlet flowers in summer. To 90cm. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium dauricum Ker-Gawl.

A stem-rooting lily with rhizomatous bulbs and brown-spotted stems. In summer the uppermost leaves form a whorl below the umbels of up to 6 unscented, bowl-shaped, deep orange-scarlet flowers with yellowish centres and darker spots. To 70cm. There are several garden varieties. [RHSE, Hortus].

Lilium japonicum Thunb.

A bulbous perennial with scattered, lance-shaped leaves, to 15cm, and flower spikes, to 90cm, bearing up to 5, fragrant, funnel-shaped, delicate rose-pink flowers on stems in summer. A white form coexists with the pink in the wild. [RHSD, Hortus, Grey].

Lilium lancifolium Thunb.

Fully-hardy, robust, stem-rooting, clump-forming lily with dark purple stems and narrowly lance-shaped leaves, developing bulbils in the axils, and up to 40 unscented, nodding, turkscap, orange-red flowers with dark purple spots, in racemes in summer and autumn. To 1.5m. [RHSE, Hortus].

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