Climbers
The ability to climb and scramble over the ground or other plants is the only characteristic shared by plants in this category.
Rosa laevigata Michx.
A vigorous species with large prickles, attractive, glossy, trifoliate dark green leaves and solitary, flat, single, scented white flowers in summer, to 10cm across, with scalloped petals and golden stamens, followed by bristly, orange-red hips. [Gore, Rivers (1854, 1857), Willmot, Don].
Rosa moschata ‘Mr. Bidwill’
Presumably a cultivar of Rosa moschata Mill. but I have found no description of this rose in the Macarthur Papers. It is probably one of the seedlings refered to by Macarthur in a letter to Bidwill: ‘Several dozens of seedlings have been raised from your hybrid hips, some of the forwardest of which, (5 or 6 inches high) show evident symptoms of being crossed.’ 25th November, 1845. [MP A2833-2, p.98].
Rosa moschata ‘Superba’
This plant has not been positively identified. It could be R. moschata ‘Plena’, in cultivation prior to 1596, however Catherine Gore and Thomas Rivers [1854] list a number of musk roses that could fit the description superba. See Rosa moschata Mill. for further reference to Rosa moschata.
Rosa moschata Mill.
Rosa moschata Mill. is the herbalist’s rose, described consistently from John Gerard (1597) to Redouté (1817-1824) as an autumn-flowering rose. Nurserymen of the time listed it for its autumn-flowering characteristics. Most notable for us is Thomas Rivers, who, in an article in The Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1843, included it in his autumnal garden. It is a vigorous climber, reaching to 10m or more, with loose clusters of musk-scented, usually single, pure white flowers, displaying yellow stamens, from mid to late summer into autumn. The flowers are followed by small, orange-red hips. [Rivers (1854, 1857, 1863), Gore, Willmot, Paul (1848, 1888)].
Rosa multiflora Thunb. alba
This rose may be synonymous with the variety Thunbergiana described by George Don. The flowers of Rosa multiflora alba are not pure white but a pale flesh colour. Paul describes them as creamy white, small and very double. [Paul (1848, 1863, 1888)]. Rivers describes it as pretty and distinct. [Rivers (1854, 1857, (1863)].
Rosa multiflora Thunb. var. rubra
The Gardeners’ Chronicle of 1841 describes Rosa multiflora rubra growing at Woods and Son’s Nursery at Marsfield as a small, compact bush with rose-coloured flowers, clearly a dwarf form. While possible that both of the ‘multiflora’ roses in the catalogues are dwarf roses, white and pink in colour, they are more likely to be climbers. [See the note on Shepherd’s Nursery in Rosa multiflora Thunb. var. alba].
Smilax glauca Walter
Half hardy evergreen climber with suckering roots and whitish-green flowers. [RHSD, Hortus].
Smilax lanceolata L.
Tender, tuberous rooted, evergreen climber with recurved prickles at base of stem, lance-shaped leaves, to 10cm long, and numerous whitish flowers in axillary umbels followed by dark red fruit. To 10m or more. [RHSD, Hortus].
Solanum jasminoides Paxt.
Half hardy, scrambling, evergreen or semi-evergreen climber with glossy, narrow, lance-shaped leaves, to 5cm long, sometimes lobed, and terminal and axillary clusters of fragrant, blue-white flowers, to 2.5cm across, in summer and autumn, followed by ovoid black fruit. To 6m. [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Stemona tuberosa Lour.
Frost tender, tall-growing twining plant with pointed, somewhat heart-shaped leaves and bell-shaped, greenish pink or yellow flowers in summer. [RHSD].
Stephanotis floribunda Brongn.
Frost tender, sparsely branched, twining climber with glossy, oval leaves, to 10cm long, and cymes of 3-6, fragrant, waxy flowers, to 6cm long, from spring to autumn. To 6m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Tecomaria capensis (Thunb.) Spach.
Frost tender, erect, scrambling, evergreen shrub with slender stems, 5-7 toothed, slender leaflets per leaf and racemes of slender, tubular, orange to scarlet flowers, up to 7cm long, in summer. To 7m. [RHSE, Hilliers’, Hortus].
Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims
Frost tender, evergreen, perennial, twining climber, often grown as an annual, with bright orange or yellow flowers with black centres from summer to autumn. A number of garden cultivars are available in a range of colours, sometimes without the dark centre. Readily self-seeds. To 2.5m. [RHSE, Hortus].
Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims var. alba
See Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims. Alba is a naturally occurring variety with white flowers with a dark centre. [RHSD, Hortus].
Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims var. aurantiaca
See Thunbergia alata Bojer ex Sims. Aurantiaca is a naturally occurring variety with orange or yellow flowers with a dark centre. [RHSD, Hortus].
