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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Cryptomeria japonica D.Don
Fully-hardy, evergreen conical or columnar tree with thick, fibrous, red-brown bark, narrowly wedge-shaped, forward-pointing leaves, to 1.5cm long, in 5-ranked spirals around the shoots, and solitary, spherical female cones, to 3cm long. To 25m. The timber is white, compact, fibrous and highly prized in Japan and Northern China [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cryptomeria japonica D.Don var. lobbii
See Cryptomeria japonica D.Don for a detailed description. ‘Lobbii’ differs from the type in its longer branchlets, more clustered at the ends of the shorter branches. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cryptostylis subulata (Labill.) Reichb.f.
Terrestrial orchid with fleshy, spreading roots, leathery leaves and tall racemes of reddish to reddish brown flowers, the labellum having a prominent lobed, dark purple callus near the apex. To 80cm. [Jones, FNSW, Pridgeon, Beadle].
Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.f.
Fully-hardy, evergreen conical tree, developing a rounded top with age, with glossy, irregularly lance-shaped leaves, to 7cm long, with 2 white bands beneath, and ovoid to conical green-brown female cones, to 4cm long. To 20m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cuphea ignea A.DC.
Frost tender, spreading, freely-branching, soft-stemmed shrub, often grown as an annual, with lance-shaped leaves and slender, deep red flowers, 2-3cm long, with a dark red band, white rim and 2 tiny black-purple petals, borne singly from the upper leaf axils from spring to autumn. To 75cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Cuphea micropetala H.B. & K
Frost tender, branched sub-shrub with crowded lance-shaped leaves, to 12cm long, and leafy racemes bearing scarlet, white and red flowers, yellowish at the apex, with minute petals in summer. To 90cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Cupressus australis Low ex Gord.
A synonym of Cupressus sempervirens L. See Cupressus sempervirens L. var. stricta for a description.
Cupressus funebris Endl.
An evergreen, erect tree when young, becoming more open and pendulous with age, branches spreading and drooping, branchlets pendulous, with paired, overlapping, scale-like leaves, and small, spherical female cones. To 15m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cupressus goveniana Gord.
Fully hardy conical shrub or tree with loosely arranged, ascending branches, long, drooping branchlets, and globular cones to 2cm long. To 22m. There are a number of garden varieties, such as pygmaea and aurea. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cupressus lusitanica Mill.
Conical to columnar conifer with brown bark, shallowly fissured in spirals, with small blue-green leaves in spreading sprays, and spherical, shiny brown female cones, to 1.5cm across. To 20m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cupressus lusitanica Mill. var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière
For a description of the type see Cupressus lusitanica Mill. The variety benthamii is an evergreen, narrowly conical tree in which the branchlets are flattened, giving a fern-like appearance, with fissured brown bark, bright green leaves, to 3mm long, and spherical blue, then brown female cones, to 1.5cm across. To 20m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers'].
Cupressus macrocarpa Hartw. ex Gord.
Fully-hardy fast-growing, evergreen, conical or columnar tree, becoming broadly spreading with age, with shallowly-ridged bark, pointed, lemon-scented leaves, to 2mm long, in densely packed, erect or spreading sprays, and spherical brown female cones, to 3cm across. To 30m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cupressus sempervirens L. var. horizontalis Gord.
See Cupressus sempervirens L. var. stricta for a description of the upright form stricta. Horizontalis is the wild form with spreading branches and a conical crown. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cupressus sempervirens L. var. stricta
Fully-hardy, evergreen, narrowly upright, columnar, forming a very narrow, pencil-like tree, with fused and flattened branches, and spherical, prickly brown female cones, to 3.5cm long. To 40m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Cupressus torulosa D.Don
Half-hardy evergreen tree, conical when young, becoming broad and columnar with age, with red-brown bark, horizontal branches, flattened sprays of whip-like branchlets, and spherical, prickly, green-brown female cones, to 2cm across. To 30m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
