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here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861.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.
Drosanthemum candens (Haw.) Schwantes
Succulent with prostrate stems, short, blunt, cylindrical leaves covered with papillae, and white flowers, to 12mm across, but see Notes below. [RHSD, Hortus].
Drosanthemum flavum (Haw.) Schwantes
Yellow flowers. [JD]. Dwarf, erect-growing shrub with slender branches and glittering, crowded leaves, nearly circular in section. [Sonder – Flora Capensis].
Duranta erecta L.
Frost tender, erect to spreading, bushy shrub or small tree with ovate to obovate, somewhat toothed leaves and pendant axillary panicles of small blue, purple or white flowers in summer, followed by yellow fruit, to 1cm across. To 6m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Duranta erecta L. var. Mexicana
Probably a variety of Duranta erecta L. of which there are several although I have found no specific reference to Mexicana.
Eccremocarpus scaber Ruiz & Pav.
Frost tender evergreen climber with angular, ribbed stems, 2-pinnate leaves with terminal leaf tendrils, and many-flowered racemes of scarlet, deep orange or golden-yellow flowers. [RHSD, Hortus].
Echeveria species unidentified
Echeveria is a genus of about 150 evergreen succulents and sub-shrubs from dry areas of Northern Central and South America. The usually fleshy leaves are often highly coloured and in rosettes. The flowers are borne on long stalks from the leaf axils. The genus includes a number of attractive house and border plants.
Echinopsis eyriesii (Turp.) Zucc. ex Pfeiff & Otto
Frost tender, spherical, later cylindrical cactus with 11-18-ribbed stems, occasionally offsetting, almost black spines, and white flowers, to 25cm long, opening in the late afternoon in summer. To 30cm. [RHSE].
Echites melaleucus Hort. ex Regel.
No description.
Echium plantagineum L.
Fully hardy annual or biennial with a basal rosette of bristly leaves and rich red-purple flowers in summer. Echium violaceum may be a form with paler flowers of a more violet colour. To 60cm. [RHS, Hortus].
Edgeworthia chrysantha Lindl.
Frost hardy, open, rounded, deciduous shrub with supple shoots and lance-shaped leaves, to 15cm long, and spherical heads, to 5cm across, of small, fragrant yellow flowers, covered with silky white hairs, in late winter and spring. To 1.5m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Ehretia tinifolia L.
Frost hardy tree with elliptic leaves, to 17cm, and terminal panicles, to 15cm across, of fragrant, tubular white flowers, followed by orange-yellow fruits. To 25m. [RHSD].
Encyclia cochleata (L.) Leme
A variable species with pseudobulbs to 25cm, slightly compressed, 3-leaved, each leaf to 40cm long, and erect inflorescences to 50cm, bearing few to many yellow-green to lime green flowers, marked purple near the base, with a deep purple lip, white at the base with deep purple veins, opening in succession over many seasons. [RHSD, Hortus].
Epacris longiflora Cav.
Frost tender, erect or spreading, evergreen shrub with ovate, pointed leaves, to 1cm long, and pendant, cylindrical, white-tipped red flowers, produced singly from leaf axils or in terminal spikes to 4cm long, from spring to summer. To 1.5m. [RHSE, FNSW, Beadle].
Epacris purpurascens R.Br.
Stiffly erect shrub with ovate leaves and white flowers flushed with reddish-purple. To 1.5m. [RHSD, FNSW].
Epidendrum ciliare L.
Frost-tender epiphytic and lithophytic orchid with leafy, pseudobulb-like stems bearing 1 or 2 oblong leaves, and terminal racemes, to 30cm long, of fragrant, white-lipped, pale yellow-green flowers, to 9cm across, sometimes with fringed lobes, in winter. To 50cm by 30cm. [RHSE, Pridgeon].
