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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Oenothera speciosa Nutt.
Fully hardy, sometimes invasive perennial, spreading by runners, with solitary, saucer-shaped, very fragrant white flowers, sometimes aging to pink, in summer and autumn. To 30cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Oenothera tetraptera Cav.
Frost tender perennial with branching stems and lance-shaped, somewhat pinnatifid leaves, to 9cm, and white flowers, ageing to red, in summer and autumn. To 30cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Olea capensis L.
Shrub or bushy tree with leathery oval leaves, to 6cm long, shiny above, pale beneath, and crowded terminal panicles of white flowers in summer and autumn. To 5m. [RHSD].
Olea europaea L.
Frost-hardy, slow-growing, evergreen tree, with opposite, leathery, elliptic leaves, to 8cm long, silvery beneath, and axillary panicles of tiny, fragrant, creamy white flowers in summer, followed by edible, ovoid green fruit, ripening to black. To 10m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Olearia argyrophylla (Labill.) F.Muell. ex Benth.
Frost tender, large shrub or small tree with large, silvery, elliptic leaves, to 15cm, unevenly toothed, and numerous, large, drooping, terminal corymbs of creamy, daisy-like flowers in spring and summer. To 10m. [RHSD, FNSW,
Oncidium cavendishianum Batem.
Frost-tender epiphytic orchid with small pseudobulbs, each with 1 lance-shaped, rigid leaf, to 45cm long, and panicles, to 1.5m or more tall, of fragrant, waxy, yellow flowers, to 4cm across, with red spots and yellow lips, in spring. To 60cm. [RHSE, Pridgeon, Hortus, Jennings].
Oncidium lanceanum Lindl.
Frost-tender epiphytic orchid with small pseudobulbs, large, leathery, purple spotted apical leaves, and erect panicles, to 40cm long, of greenish-yellow flowers, to 6cm across, spotted with dark brown, with a rose-purple lip, in summer. [RHSD, Pridgeon, Hortus, Jennings].
Oncidium leucochilum Batem. ex Lindl.
Frost-tender epiphytic orchid with very long, branching and pendulous flower spikes, to 3m long, and small, yellow-green flowers with dark brown markings and a white lip, in spring and summer. [RHSD, Hortus, Jennings].
Opuntia brasiliensis (Willd.) Haw.
Frost tender, scarcely spiny cactus with cylindrical stem, ultimate branches, flattened and almost leaf-like, and yellow flowers. To 3.5m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Opuntia cochinellifera (L.) Mill.
Frost tender, shrubby or tree-like perennial cactus with flattened stem segments, few if any spines, and narrowly funnel-shaped, bright red flowers in spring and summer, followed by fleshy, spineless red fruit, to 4cm long. To 4m. The dye Cochineal is produced from insects grown on this cactus. It has been long cultivated in tropical America and elsewhere for this purpose. [RHSE, Hortus].
Opuntia leucotricha DC.
A true species with white flowers. [JD]. ‘Often 3 to 5 meters high, with a large top; trunk as well as the older joints covered with long white bristles; joints oblong to orbicular, 1 to 2 cm. long, pubescent; areoles closely set, the upper part filled with yellow glochids, the lower part at first with only I to 3 weak white spines; flowers, including ovary, 4 to 5 cm. long; petals yellow, broad; ovary with numerous areoles, the upper ones bearing long, bristly glochids (1 cm. long); style red; stigma-lobes green; fruit variable, 4 to 6 cm. long, white or red, the rind not easily coming off from the pulp, aromatic, edible.’ [Britton & Rose – The Cactaceae vol.I, p. 174/1919].
Orchid species unidentified no.3
An unidentified species, a ground orchid.
Ornithogalum biflorum (Ruiz & Pav.) Don
Bulbous perennial with narrow leaves and greenish-white flowers in loose 6-20-flowered racemes. To 30cm. [RHSD].
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