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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Crassula acutifolia Lam.
Frost tender, succulent, evergreen perennial with erect, sometimes decumbent, branched stems, with opposite, lance-shaped, fleshy leaves, compressed to round in section, and cream flowers in summer. To 1m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Crassula ciliata L.
Small herbaceous plant with rounded, grayish, succulent leaves and flower spike bearing a terminal raceme of tiny yellowish flowers. [Plantarum historia succulentarum].
Crassula falcata Wendl.
Erect succulent with a leafy base, sickle-shaped grey leaves and flat terminal corymbs of scarlet flowers. To 60cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Crassula species unidentified
Possibly one of a number of Australian Crassula species growing locally. [Beadle, FNSW].
- Crassula helmsii (Kirk) Cockayne
- Crassula purpurata (Hook.f.) Domin
- Crassula sieberana (Schultes) Druce
- Crassula macrantha (Hook.f.) Diels & E.Pritz.
Crataegus azarolus L.
Fully-hardy, thorny, deciduous shrub or small tree with fragrant white flowers with purple anthers in late spring, followed by edible, apple-flavoured, usually orange fruits. To 4.5m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Crataegus monogyna Jacq.
Fully-hardy, rounded, thorny, deciduous tree with 3-5-lobed glossy leaves and corymbs of up to 10 white to pink flowers in late spring, followed by round red fruit. To 8m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Crataegus monogyna Jacq. var. plena
For information on the species see Crataegus monogyna Jacq. The variety commonly called plena has double white flowers, ageing to pink. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Crataegus monogyna Jacq. var. punicea
For information on the species see Crataegus monogyna Jacq. The variety punicea is a cultivar with single, scarlet or dark red flowers. [Hortus, Hilliers’].
Crataegus monogyna Jacq. var. rosea
For information on the species see Crataegus monogyna Jacq. The variety rosea is a rose-pink-flowered form with single flowers. In English hedgerows it is occasionally seen among the white. [Hortus, Hilliers’].
Crinum americano-capense
A Crinum americanum L. x Crinum bulbispermum (Burm.f.) Milne-Redh. & Shweick. hybrid. A hybrid raised before 1845 presumably by John Bidwill or William Macarthur at Camden Park. Although first listed in the catalogues in 1845 there is no description of this hybrid in Macarthur’s or Bidwill’s notebooks.
Crinum americano-flaccidum
A Crinum americanum L. x Crinum flaccidum Herb. hybrid.
These three hybrids were described in William Macarthur’s notebook in an entry dated Christmas 1847. [MP A2948 notebook no.4].
No. 1. A monster producing white fragrant flowers [indistinct, probably] veined like Americanum, some shaped as C. americanum others like flaccidum, the majority on branching peduncles, 4 flowers on a peduncle.
No. 2. White, nothing remarkable. [Scabro-flaccidum? is written after this entry, suggesting doubt on parentage.]
No. 3. White with faint pink stain in the centre of each petal, scent of scabrum.
Crinum americano-macleayi
A Crinum americanum L. x Crinum Macleayi hybrid. No description of this hybrid is extant. Crinum macleayi remainds unidentified. It is probably of Australian origin and a form of either Crinum flaccidum Herb. or Crinum pedunculatum L. which see.
Crinum americanum L.
Deciduous, clump-forming perennial, spreading by stolons, with curved, slightly toothed leaves and umbels of up to 6 white flowers, with purple or brown backs, from spring to autumn. To 50cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Crinum bulbispermum (Burm.f.) Milne-Redh. & Shweick.
Bulbous perennial with slender pointed leaves and, in summer, umbels of 6-12 fragrant, white or pink flowers, flared at the tips and with a central dark red stripe. Flowers rarely pure white. To 60cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Crinum bulbispermum (Burm.f.) Milne-Redh. & Shweick. var. longiflora
Bulbous perennial with slender pointed leaves and, in summer, umbels of 6-12 fragrant, white or pink flowers, flared at the tips and with a central dark red stripe. Longer flowers than the type. To 60cm. [RHSE, Hortus]. See also Crinum bulbispermum (Burm.f.) Milne-Redh. & Shweick.
