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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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

Ulmus procera Salisb. var. suberosa

Fully hardy tree of low, spreading habit, with smooth, glossy leaves and branchlets with four corky wings. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Urechites suberectus Müll.Arg.

Frost-tender, evergreen, twining climber, with opposite, ovate leaves, downy beneath, with large, salver-shaped, yellow flowers, with somewhat reflexed petals, in summer. [RHSD].

Urginea maritima (L.) Bak.

Half-hardy bulbous perennial producing dense racemes of many tiny, star-shaped white flowers in late summer and autumn, followed by erect, narrow basal leaves. To 1.5m. [RHSE, Hortus].

Ursinia dentata (L.) Poir.

Frost hardy, shrubby perennial with pinnate leaves with one or two leaflets and flower stems to 20cm bearing daisy-like flowers, white or yellow above and purple and coppery beneath, in winter. Flowers throughout the year. To 60cm. [RHSD, Rice].

Vanilla planifolia Andr.

Frost-tender, climbing, vine-like orchid, reaching a large size, with fleshy stems and leaves and aerial roots arising from each stem node, with short, axillary racemes of up to 20, fragrant, whitish-green to yellow flowers in summer. Vanilla pods are harvested from several Vanilla species, the most important being planifolia. They are grown on support shrubs and trees throughout the tropics. The name aromatica suggests one of these species, most probably planifolia. [RHSD, Hortus].

Veltheimia capensis (L.) DC.

Frost-tender bulbous perennial with basal rosettes of erect lance-shaped leaves and stout green stems, flecked with purple, with terminal racemes of pendant, tubular, white or pink flowers with red or green markings, in spring. To 45cm by 30cm. [RHSE, Hortus].

Verbascum boerhavi L.

Half hardy biennial with elliptic basal leaves, to 30cm, and tall spikes of yellow flowers in summer. [RHSD, Hortus].

Verbascum phoeniceum L.

Fully hardy, rosette-forming biennial with heavily veined, dark green basal leaves, to 15cm long, with slender racemes, to 30cm long, of saucer-shaped pink or violet-purple, sometimes white, flowers, to 3cm across, in spring and summer. To 1.2m. [RHSE, Hortus].

Verbena canadensis (L.) Britt.

Half-hardy perennial with rooting lower stem nodes, pinnatifid leaves, to 9cm long, and terminal inflorescences of purple or lilac flowers in summer. To 30cm. [RHSD, Hortus].

Verbena phlogiflora Chan.

Half-hardy, erect or spreading, branching perennial with lance-shaped leaves and terminal spikes of purple, lilac, red or blue flowers in summer. [RHSD, Hortus].

Verbena teucrioides Gillies & Hook.

A parent of many hybrids Verbena teucrioides has small, 3-segmented leaves, to 2.5cm, and white to lilac flowers. [RHSD].

Verbena x hybrida ‘Atrosanguinea’

A cultivar of Verbena x hybrida Hort. ex Vilm., the Florists’ Verbena. ‘Dark velvety red, with pale eye, a compact grower and profuse bloomer, with a remarkably fine truss of flowers. Height 9 inches.’ W. P. Ayres. [GC Oct. 11th, 1845]. ‘Atrosanguinea - or Victory – [has] unequalled large heads of rich crimson [and is] adapted for late autumnal bloom.’ ‘Atrosanguinea’ was included in Wood’s list of rich-coloured varieties. Woods [Gard. Chron. 1848].

Verbena x hybrida ‘Beauty of Bath’

A cultivar of Verbena x hybrida Hort. ex Vilm., the Florists’ Verbena. ‘Beauty of Bath [has a] remarkably clean and bright carmine tint.’ William Woods [Gard. Chron. 1848].

Verbena x hybrida ‘Beauty Supreme’

A cultivar of Verbena x hybrida Hort. ex Vilm., the Florists’ Verbena. ‘Lively pinkish salmon colour, perhaps the finest variety in cultivation for cutting, but of loose straggling habit. Height 2 feet.’ W. P. Ayres. [Gard. Chron. Oct. 11th, 1845]. ‘Beauty Supreme’ was included in Wood’s list of ‘rich-coloured varieties.’ [Gard. Chron. 1848].

Verbena x hybrida ‘Boule de Feu’

A cultivar of Verbena x hybrida Hort. ex Vilm., the Florists’ Verbena. Scarlet.

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