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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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

Picea glauca (Moench) Voss var. caerulea

A large, conical tree with decurved branches, ascending at the tips. The form caerulea has silvery, grey-blue leaves. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Picea smithiana (Wallich.) Boiss.

Fully-hardy evergreen conical then columnar tree with spreading branches, pendant branchlets, sparse, 4-sided leaves, to 4cm long, arranged radially, and cylindrical, green then brown female cones, to 20cm long. To 30m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinckneya pubens Michx.

A small tree with pubescent branchlets, ovate-lanceolate leaves, to 20cm long, and open clusters of white, pink-striped flowers in early summer. To 10m. One of the rarest trees of eastern North America. [Sargent - Silva of North America vol.5, p.109/1983].

Pinus ayacahuite Ehrenb. ex Schltdl.

Large, spreading, 5-leaved pine, leaves to 15cm, cones to 40cm long. To 30m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus canariensis C.Smith

Frost-hardy, conical evergreen tree, becoming domed with age, with fissured, reddish bark, single, long-lived, bluish juvenile leaves, spreading adult leaves, to 30cm long, in threes, and ovoid female cones, to 20cm long. To 25m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus cembroides Zucc. var. llaveana (Schiede) Voss

Frost-hardy, variable, evergreen tree with a dense, rounded head, silver-grey bark fissured red-brown, radially arranged, dark green leaves, to 6cm long, in twos or threes, and spherical green female cones, to 4cm across, ripening to brown. To 18m. There are several named varieties, one of which, edulis, has edible nuts. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus coulteri D.Don

Fully-hardy, medium-sized to large tree of pyramidal habit, with stout, ridged young shoots striking, resinous, orange winter buds, and large cones, to 35cm long, to 2kg in weight. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus engelmannii Carrière

Fully-hardy, large tree with rough, dark grey to dark brown, deeply fissured bark, stout shoots, and heavy, ovoid cones, to 18cm. To 35m. [RHSD, Hortus].

Pinus gerardiana Wall. ex D.Don

Fully-hardy, small, evergreen tree with compact crown, patchwork bark, greyish-pink, flaking to reveal green, yellow and brown new bark, short, thick, spreading branches, with leaves in threes, to 10cm long, and ovoid cones, to 20cm long. To 21m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus halepensis Mill.

Frost-hardy, evergreen conical tree, becoming rounded with age, with scaly, reddish bark, slender, sparse leaves, to 11cm long, borne in pairs, and narrow, ovoid, red-brown female cones, to 12cm long. To 20m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus lambertiana Doug.

A large tree with erect, tapering growth, the largest of all pines, leaves in fives, to 10cm long, stiff and crooked with white lines on the back, cones cylindrical and tapering, very large, to 50cm long. To 75m tall. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus lanceolata Lamb.

A synonym for Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.f. which see.

Pinus leiophylla Schiede ex Schl. & Cham.

Frost-hardy small tree with greyish leaves, to 10cm long, borne in fives, and ovoid cones, to 6cm long. To about 10m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Pinus maximinoi H.E.Moore

Half-hardy, evergreen, broadly conical tree, becoming domed with age, with smooth bark, pendulous, apple-green leaves borne in fives, to 25cm long, and ovoid cones, to 14cm long. To 35m. [RHSD].

Pinus montezumae Lamb.

Frost-hardy, evergreen, broadly conical tree, becoming domed when old, with rough and fissured bark, green, pendant leaves, to 30cm long, produced in fives, sixes or sevens, and ovoid, yellowish female cones, to 20cm long. To 30m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

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