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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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

Prunus domestica L.

Deciduous tree, occasionally spiny, with elliptic or oblong leaves, the flowers white with up to four in a cluster, followed by a pendant oval fruit, from yellow to dark blue in colour, the flesh edible, green, reddish or yellow, with an almost smooth stone. To 12m. [RHSD, Hortus].

Prunus domestica L. var. plena

Prunus domestica L. is a small deciduous tree with ovate leaves with small white flowers. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’]. Plena is a double-flowered form probably identical to the variety Plantieri. [Hortus].

Prunus dulcis ‘Jordan’

A Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb cultivar. ‘Fruit, above one inch and a half long, and one inch wide; rather oval, at least more so than any of the other varieties, convex on one side, and almost straight on the other, terminated with a small point, and marked with a suture, which is higher on one side than the other. Stalk, inserted in a plain cavity. Shell, very tender, consisting of a network of large fibres, which are easily removed, because the exterior layer is more tender than the interior, so much so that it may be broken between the finger and thumb, and so porous as to be easily rubbed to dust. Kernel, large, white, sweet, and relishing. It ripens in the end of August and beginning of September. The tree attains a good size, is vigorous, and bears well; the flowers are very small, and of a pale red colour, and are produced at the same time as the leaves. This is the Sweet or Jordan Almond of the fruit shops. It very frequently has a double kernel.’ [Hogg – Fruit Manual p.3/1884].

Prunus dulcis ‘Paper-Shell’

A Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb cultivar. This almond is another thin-shelled variety, probably very similar to the ‘Jordan Almond’, which see. I have found no specific reference to a variety called ‘Paper-Shell’ and Macarthur’s name could well be a descriptive term.

Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb

A deciduous tree, bushy when old, with toothed, lance-shaped leaves, rose-coloured or almost white flowers, solitary or paired, the fruit a hard, green drupe enclosing the smooth stone containing the edible seed. To 8m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Prunus ilicifolia Walp.

Frost-hardy, compact, spreading, rounded, evergreen shrub or small tree with holly-like leaves and bowl-shaped, white flowers, to 8mm across, in racemes in summer, followed by spherical, cherry-like red fruit, ripening to blue-black. To 9m. [RHSE, Hortus].

Prunus japonica Thunb.

Fully-hardy dwarf shrub or small tree with serrated, ovate leaves, and white, blush or pink flowers, often double in cultivated forms, appearing before the leaves in spring. A number of garden forms exist. [RHSD, Hortus].

Prunus laurocerasus L.

Fully-hardy, dense, bushy, evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy, oblong leaves, to 15cm long, and upright racemes of fragrant white flowers, to 8mm across, in spring, followed by cherry-like red fruit, ripening to black. To 8m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Prunus lusitanica L.

Frost-hardy, dense, bushy, evergreen shrub or tree with red-stalked, glossy, elliptic leaves, to 12cm long, and slender racemes, to 25cm long, of fragrant, cup-shaped white flowers, to 1.5cm across, in spring, followed by cherry-like red fruit, ripening to black. To 20m. A useful hedging plant. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Prunus persica ‘Camden Excellent’

A Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. cultivar. I have found no description of this peach or nectarine. Probably a peach as nectarines are identified in the catalogues.

Prunus persica ‘Camden Newington’

A Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. cultivar. I have found no description of this peach. Its seed parent was probably ‘Old Newington’ and, given the parentage of other Camden-bred cultivars, it seems likely that its parentage also included the double China peach.

Prunus persica ‘Camden Superb’

A Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. cultivar. A Camden-bred peach for which we have a limited description.

Prunus persica ‘Early Double-Blossom China’

A Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. cultivar. I have found no specific reference to this peach, but see Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. var. flore pleno.

Prunus persica ‘Elruge’

A Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. cultivar. ‘Flowers small. Fruit middle-sized, rather more long than broad. Skin greenish yellow on the shaded side; but when exposed to the sun, of a dark red or purple colour. Flesh greenish yellow, melting and juicy, of a very excellent flavour, and separates from the stone. Ripe the beginning and middle of August.’ [George Lindley – Orchard Guide p.289/1831].

Prunus persica ‘Grosse Mignonne’

A Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. cultivar. ‘Fruit large, depressed, hollowed at the summit, with a moderately deep suture, and swelled considerably on one of its sides, and a wide cavity at the base; the side marked by the suture is shorter than the opposite one. Skin rather thinly clad with down, of a rich, very deep red, next the sun, thickly mottled on a yellowish ground next the wall. Flesh pale yellow, rayed with red at the stone, from which it freely separates; melting, juicy, with a rich vinous flavour. Stone small for the size of the fruit, ovate, very rugged. Ripe the beginning and middle of September.’ [George Lindley – Orchard Guide p.259/1831].

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