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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Blandfordia nobilis Sm.
Frost-tender rhizomatous perennial with finely-toothed, linear leaves, to 80cm long, crowded at the base, and loose racemes of up to 15 copper red to orange flowers, stained yellow, sometimes entirely yellow, in early summer. To 60cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Blumenbachia insignis Schräd.
Trailing and twining annual with palmate leaves and white flowers. [RHSD, Hortus].
Bomarea ovata (Cav.) Herb.
Frost-tender, tuberous-rooted, twining, climbing perennial with 1-4 flowers per stem, pink with green tips outside and copiously spotted with claret brown inside. It is a very variable plant, attested by the large number of synonyms, with descriptions in the literature varying accordingly. [RHSD, Baker Am.]. Baker describes Bomarea edulis var. ovata (Cav.) Mirb. as having broader leaves, more rounded at the base, and larger flowers than the species. [Baker Am.].
Bomarea salsilla (L.) Mirb.
Frost-tender, tuberous-rooted, twining, climbing perennial with 1-4 flowers per stem, pink with green tips outside and copiously spotted with claret brown inside. It seems to be a very variable plant with descriptions in the literature varying accordingly. [RHSD, Baker Am.].
Bomarea salsilla (L.) Mirb. var. oculata
Frost-tender, tuberous-rooted, twining, climbing perennial with 1-4 flowers per stem, pink with green tips outside and copiously spotted with claret brown inside. It seems to be a very variable plant with descriptions in the literature varying accordingly. [RHSD, Baker Am.]. See also Bomarea salsilla (L.) Mirb.
Boophone disticha (L.f.) Herb.
Large bulbs, to 18cm in diameter, the scape bearing 100 or more pink to purple-red, fragrant flowers in a dense umbel, to 30cm across, in summer to autumn, followed by a fan of erect leaves to 45cm long in 2 rows. To 50cm. [RHSD, CECB].
Boophone toxicaria Herb.
Boophone toxicaria is a synonym of Boophone disticha (L.f.) Herb. which see for description. It is included here for completeness as Macarthur appears to have considered it to be a separate species, at least for some years.
Boronia anemonifolia A.Cunn.
Bushy shrub with downy shoots, pinnate leaves with three, sometimes five leaflets, usually tinged with brown or yellow, and usually paired, pale pink to white flowers in the axils of the upper leaves. It is slow to flower. To 80cm. [RHSD, Beadle, FNSW].
Boronia fraseri Hook.
Shrub with pinnate leaves, with three or five narrowly lance-shaped leaflets, and axillary clusters of deep rose-coloured flowers. To 1m. [RHSD, FNSW].
Boronia ledifolia (Vent.) DC. var. triphylla (Rchb.) Benth.
Half hardy bushy perennial shrub with usually solitary pink flowers. To 1.5m. [FNSW, Blombery, Beadle].
Boronia microphylla Sieb. ex Rchb.
Half hardy, low shrubby perennial with rose-pink to rose-purple flowers, usually 1-3 to a cyme, in spring and summer. To 1m. [FNSW, Beadle].
Boronia pinnata Sm.
Half hardy, robust perennial shrub with pinnate leaves and numerous deep pink flowers in loose axillary or sub-terminal cymes. To 1.5m. [RHSD, FNSW, Blombery, Beadle].
Boronia serrulata Sm.
Frost tender, bushy, erect, then spreading shrub with finely-toothed, aromatic leaves and profuse, dense, terminal cymes of bell-shaped, fragrant, rich purplish-pink or occasionally white flowers from winter to summer. To 90cm. [RHSE, FNSW].
Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd.
Borderline half-hardy, vigorous evergreen, or almost deciduous climber with stems bearing down-curving thorns, downy, ovate leaves, and purple or pink bracts, to 6cm long, from spring to summer. To 12m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Bouvardia flava Decne.
Tender shrub with opposite, lance-shaped leaves and yellow flowers in 3-to 5-flowered racemes. To 45cm. [RHSD]. See also Bouvardia laevis M.Martens & Galeotti.
