 Despite difficulties of access, well-connected NSW gardeners were able to introduce Chinese plants early - either from England or directly from trading ports of Canton (Guangzhou), where foreign merchants were permitted from the mid-18th century, and the Portuguese outpost of Macao.Chinese plants in the garden include shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet), plume poppy, "Macleaya cordata" (named after Alexander Macleay, colonial secretary of New South Wales from the 1820s-30s, and gardener at Elizabeth Bay House), Camellia japonica cv.s, azaleas (Rhododendron indicum cv's), Cherokee rose (Rosa laevigata), "Wisteria sinensis", (introduced into Sydney by Alexander Macleay at Elizabeth Bay) orange jessamine / sweet box (Murraya paniculata), confederate rose (Hibiscus mutabilis), butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii), fried egg plant (Gordonia axillaris) and "Safrano" rose, (R. 'Safrano').Large shrubs in this shrubbery area include Cotoneaster sp.