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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Dianthus chinensis L.
Annual or biennial with erect branched stems, lance-shaped leaves and flowers ranging in colour from white to dull red, often spotted and weakly bearded. Today garden forms are usually grown as an annual from seed, bearing single pink, red or white flowers, often with purple eyes and heavily fringed. To 70cm. [RHSD, Hortus].
Dianthus japonicus Thunb. ex A.Murray
Hardy, glabrous, variable perennial with white to red flowers, the edges of the petals fimbriated. To 45cm. [Hortus].
Dianthus montanus M.Bieb.
Johnson's Dictionary and Don describe Dianthus montanus M.Bieb. as bearing large, purple flowers, olive-coloured on the underside, with strongly-toothed petals. Probably the same species as Dianthus chinensis L. which see. Hortus Second relates Dianthus montanus to Dianthus seguièri Vill., synonym D. chinensis var. asper. ‘The European extension of D. chinensis, perhaps a distinct species differing in the panicled flowers, and wide-spreading calyx bracts.’ [Hortus].
Dianthus species unidentified [1]
Unidentified species. It seems likely that these were varieties of carnation or pink. See Dianthus caryophyllus L. and cultivar descriptions.
Dianthus species unidentified [2]
Unidentified species. It seems likely that these were varieties of carnation or pink. See Dianthus caryophyllus L. and cultivar descriptions.
Dianthus species unidentified [3]
Unidentified species. It seems likely that these were varieties of carnation or pink. See Dianthus caryophyllus L. and cultivar descriptions.
Dianthus splendens unidentified
Unidentified Dianthus species, probably a nursery name for an improved form of a common species.
Dicentra spectabilis (L.) Lem.
Fully hardy, clump-forming perennial with thick, fleshy roots, leaves up to 40cm long, composed of three, often deeply cut, leaflets, and arching, fleshy stems producing racemes of flowers, 2-3cm long, with rose-pink outer petals and white inner, in spring and summer. To 1.2m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Dichorisandra thyrsiflora Mikan
Frost tender, erect perennial with short, rhizomatous roots, spirally arranged, lance-shaped leaves, and dense racemes, to 20cm long, of deep violet flowers, to 2cm across, in autumn. To 2.5m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Dichroa febrifuga Lour.
Frost tender, smooth-branched shrub with opposite, lance-shaped, coarsely toothed leaves and terminal rounded panicles of bluish flowers, sometimes pink, followed by blue berries. To 2m. [RHSD].
Dicksonia antarctica Labill.
Thick-trunked tree fern, trunk covered with brown hairs and up to 4.5m high, the fronds spreading and up to 3m long. [RHSD, FNSW].
Dictamnus albus L.
Fully hardy clump-forming perennial with white or pinkish-white flowers in early summer. There are a number of garden cultivars, with rosy-red to purplish flowers. To 90cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
Dierama pendulum (L.f.) Bak.
Frost-hardy, clump-forming cormous perennial with linear leaves, often dry and fibrous when flowering, and clustered spikes of nodding, wide, open bell-shaped, purple-pink flowers in summer. To 2m. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
Dietes iridioides (L.) Sweet ex Klatt
Very hardy, evergreen, rhizomatous, iris-like plant with a fan of basal leaves and white flowers, with yellow marks, in spring and summer. Individual flowers last only one day but continue in succession for many weeks. To 60cm. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
Digitalis lanata Ehrh.
Fully hardy clump-forming biennial or perennial with dense, leafy racemes of pale cream or fawn flowers from mid- to late summer. To 60cm. [RHSE, Hortus].
