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.
Ixia ‘Tempe’
Probably a Camden Park hybrid. It had pink flowers but no detailed description is extant.
Ixia ‘Thisbe’
Hybrid Ixia of unknown parentage. Probably bred at Camden Park but no description is extant.
Ixia campanulata Houtt.
Cormous perennial with linear leaves, 3-8 flowers on a congested spike, usually deep red, occasionally white, the tepals spreading. [CECB]. Descriptions of Ixia campanulata given elsewhere are quite variable, which may reflect species variability or differing identification. The RHS Dictionary describes I. campanulata as having up to ten linear leaves, to 20cm long, and a short spike with up to nine, widely bell-shaped or cup-shaped, white flowers, sometimes flushed red or crimson. Grey describes it as having up to four basal leaves, to 25cm, and a slender, rather longer stem with a dense, many-flowered spike of bell-like, reddish to purple flowers in summer. Grey give Ixia speciosa as a synonym but provides a somewhat different description for the latter. He describes it as having a few-flowered spike with glistening, deep crimson flowers, with a pale stripe outside.
Ixia campanulata Houtt. var. alba
See Ixia campanulata Houtt. for a description and discussion. Alba is presumably a pure white-flowered variety of Ixia campanulata, without the usual red or crimson flushing.
Ixia capillaris Thunb. var. aulica
Cormous perennial with up to 4 lance-shaped leaves, to 30cm, a slender flower stem, to 60cm, usually branched and bearing up to 7, lilac, pink, mauve, violet or red-purple flowers in spring or summer. A variable species and descriptions in the literature are correspondingly variable. [RHSD, CECB].
Ixia curta Andr.
There are several possibilities for Macarthur’s ‘dwarf yellow ixia’ among ixias not considered elsewhere in the Hortus, perhaps the most likely being Ixia curta Andr. This is a cormous perennial with lance-shaped leaves and crowded spikes of up to 8 red to purple or cream to yellow flowers with a darker centre. [CECB].
Ixia dubia Vent.
A possibility for Macarthur’s ‘deep orange ixia’ is Ixia dubia Vent. This is a cormous perennial with spikes of orange to golden-yellow flowers, usually dark brown or purple in the centre, flushed red outside, in spring and summer. [RHSD, CECB].
Ixia erubescens Goldblatt
Cormous perennial with very distinctive, linear leaves with markedly crinkled edges, and pink flowers with a reddish ring around a central green marking. [RHSD].
Ixia flexuosa L.
A cormous perennial. Growing to 65cm tall, it has wiry stems, often unbranched and pink, mauve or white flowers, up to 12 per stem, with darker streaks and a musky odour. [CECB].
Ixia hybrida Ker-Gawl.
Grey believes that Ixia hybrida is likely to be a naturally-occuring hybrid of Ixia flexuosa L. and I. maculata L. He describes Ixia hybrida as similar to a small-flowered form of I. flexuosa, with pink-flushed flowers, but with a distinct black basal blotch, similar to I. maculata.
Ixia longituba N.E.Br.
A cormous perennial with 5-6 linear, lance-shaped leaves, often spirally twisted, and flowering stems to 75cm, sometimes branched, bearing small pale to deep pink, sometimes white flowers, darker on the outside, in spring and summer. [RHSD, CECB].
Ixia maculata L.
Cormous perennial with lance-shaped, usually twisted, leaves and spikes of few to many orange or yellow flowers with dark purple or black centres, in spring or early summer. To 50cm. [RHSE, Hortus, CECB].
