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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Adenocarpus species unidentified
Adenocarpus is a genus of some 15 shrubs and small trees from Southern Europe and North Africa with broom-like yellow flowers in spring or summer.
Adenosma grandiflorum Benth. ex Hance
Frost tender herbaceous perennial with opposite, wrinkled ovate leaves, to 5cm or more long, and single, axillary fox-glove-like violet flowers. To 90cm. [RHSD].
Aechmea fulgens Brongn.
Frost tender epiphytic perennial with funnel-shaped rosettes of broadly strap-shaped, bright green leaves and red stems bearing branched inflorescences of 2-5 red and violet flowers in summer. To 50cm. [RHSE].
Aerides crispum Lindl.
Frost-tender, variable, epiphytic orchid with upright, then pendant many-flowered racemes, to 1.5m long, of large, white, rose-flushed flowers with a rose-purple lip, in summer. [RHSD, Hortus].
Aeschynanthus lamponga Miq.
Frost-tender, trailing evergreen perennial with ovate leaves and axillary clusters of tubular orange-red to scarlet flowers, to 5cm long, in summer. To 30cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Aeschynanthus longicaulis Wall. ex R.Br.
Frost-tender. Semi-trailing perennial with oval, light green leaves, with dark marbling above and red beneath, and solitary, axillary, greenish-yellow flowers, with maroon-or brown-tinged throats, from summer to winter. To 60cm by 90cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Aeschynanthus longiflorus (Blume) DC.
Frost-tender, robust, trailing, evergreen, epiphytic perennial with ovate leaves, to 16cm, and terminal clusters of dark red flowers, with orange-red lobes and a distinctive black-margined blotch, in summer. To 80cm. [RHSD, Don].
Aeschynanthus parasiticus (Roxb.) Wallich.
A frost-tender, trailing evergreen perennial shrub with lance-shaped leaves, to 10cm, and usually terminal clusters of large, drooping, crimson-scarlet and orange flowers in summer. To 25cm spreading. [RHSD, Don].
Aeschynanthus pulchra G.Don
Frost-tender, epiphytic climber with thin, rooting branches, oval, toothed, dark green leaves and terminal corymbs of 6-8, hooded, bright red flowers with a yellow throat from summer to winter. [RHSE, Hortus].
Aeschynanthus pulchra G.Don var. majus
See Aeschynanthus pulchra G.Don for a description of the type. Probably a variety of Aeschynanthus pulchra with larger flowers. I have found no specific reference to this variety.
Aeschynanthus ramosissima Wall. ex R.Br.
Generally regarded as synonymous with Aeschynanthus parasiticus (Roxb.) Wallich. which see for a description. The Gardeners Chronicle described A. ramosissimus as resembling A. grandiflora (A. parasiticus), but not such a strong grower and with a tendency to branch more than the type. [Gard. Chron. 1841].
Aeschynanthus volubilis Jack
Frost-tender twining shrub with oval leaves and crimson flowers, sometimes born on axillary branchlets. [Don].
Aesculus hippocastanum L.
Fully hardy, vigorous, spreading, rounded tree with 5-7-palmate, mid-green leaves, with leaflets 30cm or more long, and conical panicles of white flowers, to 30cm tall, in spring and summer, followed by spiny fruits. To 25m. [RHSE, Hilliers’].
Aesculus x carnea Hayne
A hybrid between Aesculus hippocastanum L. and Aesculus pavia L. A hardy tree, to 20m or more, with toothed leaves with five to seven leaftets, and panicles, to 2cm long, of deep pink flowers. [RHSD, Hilliers’].
Agapanthus praecox Willd.
Half-hardy clump-forming, rhizomatous evergreen perennial with long, strap-like leaves and rounded umbels of deep blue, trumpet-shaped flowers in spring. The species varies somewhat in flower colour and size, number of flowers to the umbel and in overall size. Not surprisingly there are now many garden forms. To 90cm. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
