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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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

Potentilla x mackayana Sw.

Downy perennial herb with divided leaves, particularly the basal leaves, and yellow, five-petalled flowers with a light red centre. [BFG pl.43/1829].

Premna integrifolia L.

Tree with ovate leaves. sometimes toothed, to 8cm long. and loose panicles of strongly scented greenish-white flowers in spring. To 3.5m. [RHSD].

Prestonia venosa G.Nicholson

Frost-tender, climbing or twining woody vine with oval, opposite leaves, to 15cm, and clusters of up to 20, red-veined yellow-green flowers in summer. [RHSD].

Primula auricula L.

Hardy primula with obovate leaves, to 8cm long and a flower stem bearing an umbel of up to 20 flowers, typically yellow in the wild bit in a range of colours in the Florist’s auricula. The leaves, flower stem and flowers are typically covered in farina. [RHSD, Hortus].

Primula elatior Hill.

Fully hardy, variable, rosette-forming evergreen perennial with upright stems bearing one-sided umbels of tubular yellow flowers in late winter and spring. To 30cm. [RHSE, Hortus].

Primula sinensis ‘Fimbriata’

A cultivar of Primula sinensis Sabine ex Lindl. See Primula sinensis ‘Purpurea’ for more information. ‘Fimbriata’ is a form with fringed or crested flowers. [RHSD]. Paxton's and Johnson's Dictionary both list fimbriata, with fringed petals, in both white and rose.

Primula sinensis ‘Flore Alba’

A cultivar of Primula sinensis Sabine ex Lindl. ‘Flore Alba’ has white flowers. See See Primula sinensis ‘Purpurea’ for more information.

Primula sinensis ‘Purpurea’

A cultivar of Primula sinensis Sabine ex Lindl. Half hardy, erect, rosette-forming evergreen perennial with thick stems bearing whorls of decreasing size of wavy-margined purple to pink flowers, to 5cm across and usually with yellow eyes, in winter and early spring. Purpurea is a pink to purple cultivar. To 20cm. [RHSE, Hortus].

Primula veris L.

Fully hardy, very variable, rosette-forming evergreen perennial with umbels of nodding, fragrant, deep yellow flowers in late winter and spring. To 25cm. There are a number of garden forms. [RHSE, Hortus].

Primula vulgaris ‘Plena Rubra’

See Primula vulgaris Huds. ‘Plena Rubra’ is a double red form. [JD, PD, Sitwell].

Primula vulgaris ‘Plena Violacea’

See Primula vulgaris Huds. ‘Plena Violacea’ is a double lilac or violet form. [JD, PD].

Primula vulgaris Huds.

Fully hardy, rosette-forming evergreen perennial with clusters of often fragrant, usually pale yellow flowers in late winter and spring. To 20cm. [RHSE, Hortus].

Proiphys amboinensis (L.) Herb.

Frost-tender bulbous perennial with elliptic basal leaves, to 35cm long, expanding after flowering, and stems, to 60cm long, bearing umbels of up to 30, funnel-shaped white flowers in spring. To 45cm. [RHSD, Baker Am., Blombery].

Proiphys cunninghamii (Aiton ex Lindl.) Mabb.

Frost-tender bulb with oval leaves to 25cm and 75cm flower stems bearing umbels of up to 15 white, funnel-shaped flowers in summer. To 30cm. [RHSD, Baker Am., Blombery].

Protea repens L.

Half hardy, erect, bushy shrub or small tree with lance-shaped leaves, to 15cm long, and goblet-shaped flowers heads, to 9cm across, uniformly cream-white or tipped with pink or red, and covered with sticky resin, in spring and summer. To 4m. [RHSE, Hortus].

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