Goodia lotifolia Salisb.

Horticultural & Botanical History

Introduced to Britain in 1793.  [JD]. 

‘Our drawing of this plant was taken at the Botanic Garden, Brompton, more than two years ago.  We had before seen and described it in Mr. Hibbert’s collection at Clapham-Common, but were not able to satisfy ourselves perfectly respecting its native country; suspecting from its habit, so very different from that of most of the Leguminosae from New-Holland, that it was in reality a production of the Cape of Good Hope.  We are informed however in the Paradisus Londinensis, that it was found in New South-Wales, by Peter Good, and seeds of it transmitted by him to the Royal Garden at Kew.  This industrious gardener was induced by his love of plants to leave a lucrative employment and repair to so distant a country to collect seeds for his majesty; in which service he died.  By naming this plant after him, Mr. Salisbury has endeavoured to perpetuate his memory, a duty which, we understand, Mr. Brown, since his return from New South-Wales, has intimated his intention of fulfilling.’  [BM t.958/1806].

History at Camden Park

Goodia lotifolia is marked with a ‘c’ in an 1836 edition of Loddiges’ catalogue held at Camden Park [CPA].  In William Macarthur’s code, used and explained elsewhere, this means grown at Camden.  It is almost certain that it was grown in the gardens around this time but it did not appear in the catalogues.  It is quite a common plant on the eastern seaboard and Macarthur probably collected his plants in the wild.

Notes

Goodia lotifolia Hort. (Rev. Hort. 1876) = Argyrolobium andrewsianum Steud.