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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Caladenia testacea R.Br.
Terrestrial orchid with a small globular tuber and single, lance-shaped leaf, and a small terminal raceme bearing up to 6 small white to greenish-yellow brown flowers in winter to spring. To 20cm. [Jones, FNSW, Beadle].
Caladium bicolor Vent.
Tender, tuberous-rooted perennial with slender stems bearing broadly lance-shaped, dark green leaves spotted and streaked with white, pink or red, and greenish white spathes in spring. To 30cm. [RHS, Hortus]. There are numerous garden varieties.
Calamintha coccinea (Nutt. ex Hook.) Benth.
Sub-shrub with downy shoots and leaves and funnel-shaped scarlet flowers, single or 2 or 3, borne in the upper leaf axils. To 60cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Calandrinia ciliata DC. var. menziesii (Hook.) Macbr.
Calandrinia ciliata var. menziesii is an annual with fleshy, linear, grey-green leaves, to 10cm long, on spreading, erect stems and solitary, axillary, crimson, rose-red, occasionally white, flowers in late summer. To 60cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Calandrinia discolor Lindl.
Annual or perennial, leaves purple beneath, flowers bright light purple, to 5cm across in long racemes. To 45cm. [RHSD].
Calanthe triplicata (Willemet) Ames
Evergreen ground orchid with thick, short pseudobulbs, pleated leaves and upright inflorescence bearing pure white, crucifix-like flowers in summer. [Jones].
Calceolaria bicolor Ruiz. & Pav.
Half-hardy sub-shrub, often grown as a biennial, with ovate, serrated leaves, to 8cm long, and many-flowered inflorescences bearing small, lime-green flowers with an unspotted corona, light yellow upper lip and deeper sulphur-yellow lower lip, shading to white, in summer. To 2m. [RHSD, Don].
Calceolaria lutescens Hort.
An unidentified species or variety of Calceolaria. All we can say with certainty is that it had a yellow flower.
Calceolaria ringens Hort.
Hybrid calceolarias.
Florist’s calceolaria: Florists’ calceolarias are hybrids of several, often indeterminate species. ‘Bloom perfectly round; colour, back bright as front; lip, throat, and calyx, small; markings, if any, decided and dense; substance thick and stiff; stems strong and branching; footstalks elastic; plant decidedly shrubby, and the bloom just above the foliage.’ [FC p.10/1848]. ‘This is a favourite genus, and contains some very showy species, from which an almost countless number of handsome hybrids have been raised and are raising.’ [PD, 1849].
Calceolaria species unidentified
This is probably one of the many garden hybrids or varieties developed in the 1840s and 50s. Later editions of Paxton's Dictionary comment on Calceolaria ringens: ‘Garden varieties – these are too numerous to allow even a select list; many however are very beautiful.’ See also Calceolaria lutescens Hort.
Calendula stellata Cav.
Frost tender annual with erect stems, usually much branched, sharply-toothed, lance-shaped leaves, to 14cm, and golden yellow to orange flowers, tipped with purple, and with violet-purple to black disc florets. To 50cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Calicotome spinosa (L.) Link.
Frost-tender, thorny, deciduous shrub with alternate, trifoliate leaves and solitary, pea-like, vivid yellow flowers on young shoots in spring and summer. To 2m. [RHSD].
Calliandra tergemina (L.) Benth.
‘Inga capensis’ is probably a miss-print or miss-named in the catalogues as Inga species come exclusively from tropical and sub-tropical America. The most likely candidate is Inga caripensis Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., a synonym of Calliandra tergemina (L.) Benth. I have no description at present.
Callistemon salignus (Sm.) Sweet var. viridiflorus (Sims) F.Muell.
Half hardy, erect to spreading shrub or small tree with papery white bark, purplish-pink new growth, willow-like leaves, and greenish flowers in the typical bottlebrush spikes, to 5cm long, in spring and summer. To 10m. [RHSE, Hortus, FNSW, Hilliers’].
Callistemon speciosus DC.
An erect, open shrub with lance-shaped leaves, to 15cm long, and dense, bottlebrush spikes of deep red flowers, to 15cm long, from spring to autumn. To 4m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
