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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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

Rosa moschata ‘Superba’

This plant has not been positively identified. It could be R. moschata ‘Plena’, in cultivation prior to 1596, however Catherine Gore and Thomas Rivers [1854] list a number of musk roses that could fit the description superba. See Rosa moschata Mill. for further reference to Rosa moschata.

Rosa moschata Mill.

Rosa moschata Mill. is the herbalist’s rose, described consistently from John Gerard (1597) to Redouté (1817-1824) as an autumn-flowering rose. Nurserymen of the time listed it for its autumn-flowering characteristics. Most notable for us is Thomas Rivers, who, in an article in The Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1843, included it in his autumnal garden. It is a vigorous climber, reaching to 10m or more, with loose clusters of musk-scented, usually single, pure white flowers, displaying yellow stamens, from mid to late summer into autumn. The flowers are followed by small, orange-red hips. [Rivers (1854, 1857, 1863), Gore, Willmot, Paul (1848, 1888)].

Rosa multiflora Thunb. alba

This rose may be synonymous with the variety Thunbergiana described by George Don. The flowers of Rosa multiflora alba are not pure white but a pale flesh colour. Paul describes them as creamy white, small and very double. [Paul (1848, 1863, 1888)]. Rivers describes it as pretty and distinct. [Rivers (1854, 1857, (1863)].

Rosa multiflora Thunb. var. rubra

The Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1841 describes Rosa multiflora rubra growing at Woods and Son’s Nursery at Marsfield as a small, compact bush with rose-coloured flowers, clearly a dwarf form. While possible that both of the ‘multiflora’ roses in the catalogues are dwarf roses, white and pink in colour, they are more likely to be climbers. [See the note on Shepherd’s Nursery in Rosa multiflora Thunb. var. alba].

Rosa odorata Jacq. var. ochroleuca

Probably the rose generally known as Park's yellow tea-scented China. A Tea rose. A spring-flowering climber with red young stems and leaves and sulphur-yellow flowers with an occasional pink flush, large, double and globular in form, with very large petals, the buds long and beautiful in a half expanded state.

Rosa rubiginosa ‘Superb’

The identification of this rose is uncertain. Perhaps the most likely candidate is ‘Superb’, a Rosa rubiginosa, sweet briar cultivar described by William Paul in the first edition of The Rose Garden. Paul describes ‘Superb’ as a robust grower with bright rose-coloured, full and cupped flowers. [Paul 1848]. Click here to see the entry for Rosa rubiginosa L.

Rosa rubiginosa L.

It forms a shrub growing to 2m or more, very branched, the leaves sweetly scented when bruised, the flowers single, usually solitary or 2 or 3 together, pale pink and cup-shaped, borne in summer. [FNSW, Paul (1848, 1888), Gore, Rivers (1854), Don, Willmot].

Rosa rugosa Thunb.

Catherine Gore lists Rosa Ferox, the rose figured by Lawrence. It has large, single red flowers.

Rosa setigera ‘Queen of the Prairies’

Possibly a variety or cultivar of Rosa setigera Mich. but see notes below. Gore describes the flowers of the species as middle-sized, double, globular, red or pale pink, borne in multifloral clusters, sometimes solitary, George Don as small, pale red, usually three together.

Rosa sulphurea Ait. & Lindl.

The ‘Double Yellow’ rose produces a moderately thorny shrub, eight or nine feet high with large, very full, globular and regular flowers of pure yellow. The flowers require excellent growing conditions to open fully. [Gore, Paul (1848, 1863, 1888, 1903), Rivers (1854, 1857, 1863), Willmot].

Rosa x centifolia L. var. alba

A Centifolia rose. The buds of ‘Unique Blanche’ are greenish, tipped with red and the full, middle-sized, scented flowers open creamy, fading to white. It is one of the latest flowering old roses. To 1.5m. [Gore, Paul (1848, 1863, 1888, 1903), Rivers (1854, ,1857, 1863), Amat].

Rosmarinus officinalis L.

Hardy evergreen shrub with downy shoots and opposite, narrow, lance-shaped leaves, dark above and pale beneath. The pale violet flowers are borne in the leaf axils of the previous years growth. To 2m. [RHSD, Hortus].

Rossioglossum grande (Lindl.) Garay & G.C.Kenn.

Frost-tender epiphytic orchid with lance-shaped, leathery leaves, to 20cm long, and erect racemes of up to 8, glossy, chestnut brown and yellow flowers, to 12cm across, spotted red, brown or yellow, with white lips, in autumn and winter. To 35cm. [RHSE, Pridgeon, Hortus, Jennings].

Rothmannia longiflora Salisb.

Shrub or small tree with elliptic leaves, to 14cm, and terminal, solitary, fragrant, tubular-funnel-shaped flowers with green or red-purple tubes and white lobes, red to purple inside. To 5m. [RHSD].

Rothmannia whitfieldii (Lindl.) Dandy

Frost-tender shrub with leaves in whorls of 3, and creamy-white, pendular, trumpet-like, fragrant flowers, up to 7.5cm in diameter. To 2m. [RHSD].

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