Bulbous and Tuberous Rooted Plants
A division of the Camden Park catalogues that is not clearly defined. Some of the more important families of the Hortus are included here, Amaryllidaceae, Iridaceae and Liliaceae. It also contains a wide assortment of other plants with a modified stem or root that acts as a storage organ. Such plants are usually deciduous and have a distinct dormancy period. Shrubs and trees are not included, but there is some overlap with herbaceous plants.
Dircaea blassii Regel
Tuberous-rooted gesneriad with pointed, ovate leaves and pendant stems bearing numerous, velvety-orange tubular flowers.
Doronicum caucasicum M.Bieb.
A rhizomatous herbaceous perennial with toothed, kidney-shaped basal leaves, a few lance-shaped stem leaves and solitary yellow, daisy-like flower heads, about 5cm across. To 60cm. Improved garden forms exist, such as magnificum, with larger flower heads. [RHSE, Hortus].
Doryanthes excelsa Correa
Frost-tender perennial with erect clusters of 100 or more curving, lance-shaped leaves and, in late summer, flowering stems to 5m bearing short, lance shaped leaves and dense, spherical racemes, to 70cm across, of tubular red flowers enclosed in leafy bracts. To 6m. [RHSE, Hortus, FNSW].
Eucomis comosa Hort. ex Wehrh.
A possible candidate for Macarthur’s ‘Eucomis umbellatis’ is Eucomis comosa, a bulbous perennial with strap-shaped leaves with wavy margins, heavily spotted with purple beneath, and racemes of pale greenish-white flowers with distinct purple centres, in late summer and autumn. The tallest species, and the commonest grown today. To 100cm. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
Ferraria crispa Burm.
Cormous perennial with linear-lance-shaped, stem-clasping leaves, to 30cm long, and upward-facing, yellowish-brown, spotted flowers, or uniformly brown flowers with a lighter edge, to 2.5cm across, in spring. To 1m. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
Freesia laxa (Thunb.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning
Cormous perennial with two-ranked leaves and branched stems bearing small carmine-crimson flowers. Introduced in 1830. [RHSD, Hortus].
Freesia refracta (Jacq.) Klatt
Cormous perennial with a basal fan of leaves and racemes of scented greenish to dull purple flowers with yellow to orange markings on long, branched, arching stems in winter and spring. To 45cm. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
Freesia viridis (Ait.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning
A cormous perennial with many, narrowly sword-shaped leaves to 15cm and a zigzag stem, to 45cm, bearing many green flowers in summer. [RHSE, Grey].
Fritillaria imperialis L.
Bulbous perennial with whorls of lance-shaped leaves to 18cm long, and umbels of up to 8 pendant, bell-shaped, orange, yellow or red flowers topped with a cluster of leaf-like bracts. To 1.5m. There are many garden varieties. [RHSE, Hortus].
Fritillaria latifolia Willd.
Bulbous perennial with lance-shaped leaves, a stem to 30cm and usually single, bowl-shaped, pendant flowers, variable in colour but usually purplish with a darker chequered pattern. [RHSD].
Geissorhiza tulbaghensis F.Bolus
Frost hardy upright cormous perennial with thread-like basal leaves, to 15cm long, and one- or two-flowered spikes of whitish flowers with a white-ringed, dark brown to purple centre, to 4.5mm long, in spring. To 15cm. [RHSE, CECB].
Gelasine elongata (Graham) Ravenna
Cormous perennial with lance-shaped basal leaves, to 60cm long, the flower stems bearing a terminal cluster of few, cup-shaped, bright blue flowers with a white blotch at the base. [RHSD].
Gesnera braziliensis unidentified
I have found no reference to a plant of this name.
Gesnera leopoldi Scheidw. ex Planch.
Cormous gesneriad with dark green heart-shaped leaves, purple beneath, and tall spikes of tubular scarlet flowers.
Gesneria x donkelaariana Lemair
It was described in the Floricultural Cabinet under new or rare plants as ‘a robust plant. The leaves are nearly heart-shaped, 8 inches across, green, tinged with purple and red. The flowers are produced in terminal heads; and plants about 9 inches high bloomed freely. Each blossom is about 2 inches long, in the form of one of the scarlet-blossomed Penstemon; they are of a rosy-red colour, very neat and pretty.’ ‘The inside of the flower is white.’ [FC p.99/1854. FC p.147/1854].
