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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Cedrus deodara (D.Don.) G.Don
Fully-hardy evergreen conical tree with spreading branches, pendant tips, dark bark, needle-like leaves in whorls of 20-30, and glaucous, barrel-shaped female cones, to 12cm long, ripening brown from green. To 40m by 10m. More ornamental varieties, particularly with golden foliage, are commonly grown now, but the first of these was not introduced to gardens until 1866. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cedrus libani A.Rich.
Fully-hardy, evergreen, wide-spreading, flat-topped tree, conical when young, with fissured dark bark, 4-sided, pointed leaves in whorls of 10-20, and barrel-shaped, greenish-brown female cones, to 12cm long. To 30m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Celtis australis L.
Fully hardy, spreading, deciduous tree with broad, lance-shaped, rough, coarsely-toothed leaves, turning yellow in autumn, and edible, red fruit, to 1cm across, ripening to blackish-brown. To 20m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Celtis occidentalis L.
Fully hardy, spreading, deciduous tree with lance-shaped, sharply-toothed leaves, rounded or heart-shaped at the base, and sweet, edible, yellow or red fruit, to 1cm across, ripening to purple. To 20m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Centaurea americana Nutt.
Annual with thin, lance-shaped, usually entire leaves and rose to purplish or white flowerheads, to 7.5cm across. To 90cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Centaurea cyanus L.
Fully hardy annual with dark blue to pale blue, sometimes pink or white, flower heads in spring and summer. Highly variable in height, to 80cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Centradenia inaequilateralis G.Don
Tender evergreen sub-shrub with ovate lance-shaped leaves and terminal racemes of rosy-pink flowers. [RHSD].
Centranthus ruber (L.) DC.
Fully hardy, clump-forming, woody-based perennial with dense cymes of small, funnel-shaped, fragrant, white, pink or crimson flowers from late spring to late summer. Self-seeds freely. To 1m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Cephalotaxus harringtonia (Knight ex Forbes) K.Koch
A somewhat variable evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 12m in the wild, with linear leaves to 6cm long in irregular rows with two pale bands beneath, separate male and female flowers and brown to purple drupe-like fruits to 2.5cm long. There are a number of garden forms. [RHSD, Hortus, HFSEA].
Ceratonia siliqua L.
Frost-tender, evergreen tree or small shrub with a rounded head, dark green, leathery, pinnate leaves, with up to 10 leaflets, and cylindrical racemes of red and yellow flowers in late summer and autumn. To 15m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Ceratopetalum species unidentified
Genus of 5 species of evergreen shrubs and trees from open woodland and rainforest in Australia and New Guinea, valued for their panicles of flowers which give an even showier display of enlarged, brightly coloured calyces after the flowers have finished. The genus includes Ceratopetalum gummiferum Sm., the Australian Christmas tree, much used in floristry in Australia, and C. apetalum D.Don, the Coachwood, both of which are native to the Sydney and Illawarra regions of New South Wales. [FNSW, Beadle]. It could also be a species belonging to another genus in the family Cunoniaceae or the related Baueraceae.
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Bunge
Fully hardy, rhizomatous, spreading, woody-based perennial with upright, slender red stems, obovate, wavy-margined leaves, to 9cm long, colouring in autumn, and terminal spikes of bright blue flowers, to 2cm across, in summer. To 45cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Cercis siliquastrum L.
Fully-hardy, spreading, sometimes multi-stemmed, deciduous tree with inversely heart-shaped leaves, bronze when young, changing to blue-green, then turning yellow in autumn. The clusters of magenta, pink or white flowers are borne before and with the leaves. To 10m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cereus ferox Haw.
Frost tender, branching, columnar, heavily armed cactus which forms clumps or clambers over rocks, the flowers produced along one side of the stem. [RHSD, Don].
Cereus hexagonus (L.) Mill.
Frost tender, large, columnar or tree-like, erect cactus, usually with 6 strong ribs, short, variable, brown prickles, and solitary flowers, to 29cm long, reddish outside and white inside, followed by dark purple fruits. To 15m. [RHSD, Hortus].
