The Geranium Page
Geraniaceae

Pelargonium bowkeri  Harvey 1862
Named for: Henry Bowker, 19th C. soldier & naturalist, who collected the plant.

A geophytic species with a mass of pinnate feathery leaves growing from a large underground tuber. The inflorescence is a cluster of light yellow-green flowers held close to the leaves.
 
Native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium carnosum  L'Héritier 1789
Name: Latin: fleshy, succulent, referring to the stems.

A variable, shrubby plant with thick, waxy yellow-green stems up to 4 ft tall and a thickened root. The bipinnate leaves are crisped to a variable extent and produced in tufts from growing points along the stem. The inflorescence is a cluster of white flowers with bright pink style and stamens with orange pollen.
 
Native to the North-Western Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium cotyledonis  L'Héritier 1789 (Old Father Live For Ever)
Name: with leaves resembling cotyledons.

This slow-growing shrubby plant has a few thickened, succulent branches. The simple, heavily veined leaves are deciduous during the Summer and produced around the growing tips of the stems. The inflorescence is a cluster of relatively large white flowers on a long stalk, with white style, stamens and pollen.
 
Endemic to the island of St. Helena where it is the only species of Pelargonium, but threatened due to predation by goats and encroachment by invasive introduced New Zealand Flax.

Pelargonium crithmifolium  J.E. Smith 1793
Name: leaves resembling those of Rock Samphire (Crithmum)

This shrubby plant has thick knobbly stems to about 2 ft tall. The succulent, bipinnate leaves are produced in tufts at growing points on the stem. The inflorescence is a cluster of white flowers with pink markings on the base of the upper pair of petals, a red style and stamens with yellow pollen.
Native to an wide area from Namibia to the North-Western Cape.

Pelargonium desertorum  Vorster 1986
A decibuous shrubby plant with smooth stems and aromatic small 5-lobed leaves. The flowers have white petals with a purple tinge and purple stamens with orange pollen.

Native to the Northern Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium echinatum  Curtis 1795
Name: Latin: Echinatum = furnished with spines.

This shrubby plant grows up to 3 ft high, with thick, sprawling stems furnished with thorns, originating as persistent recurved stipules. Roots are tuberous. The Summer-deciduous leaves are heart shaped with crenate margins. The inflorescence is a globular cluster of white to pink flowers with red blotches of variable size near the base of the petals.

Native to the rocky soils and cliffs of the South African Richtersveld. In cultivation, water should be withdrawn during the Summer to allow the plant to rest.

Pelargonium fruticosum  Willdenow 1800 (Fern Leaf Geranium)
Name: Latin: fruticosum = shrubby

This shrubby species has smooth brown stems with slightly succulent, highly-divided trifoliate bright-green leaves. Flower stalks carry two or three pale to dark pink flowers with darker pink central markings.
 
Native to the Southern Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium gibbosum  L'Héritier 1789
Name: Latin: gibbosum = unevenly swollen, referring to the stem nodes.

A sprawling sub-shrub with thickened stems producing a mass of annual growth with glaucous semi-succulent pinnate leaves. The inflorescence is a panicle of night-scented yellow flowers, contrasting nicely with the foliage.
 
Native to the coastal Western Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium grandicalcaratum  Knuth 1918
A woody shrub whose stems bear succulent pinnate leaves. Persistent petioles along the stems give the appearance of spines. The foliage is delightfully aromatic, somewhat reminiscent of the herb Thyme. The small flowers are white to pale yellow with fine red markings on the upper petals.
Native to Namibia and the North-Western Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium laevigatum  Willdenow 1800
Name: Latin: laevigo = smooth

A borderline succulent shrubby plant with smooth reddish-brown stems and narrow lanceolate to trifoliate leaves that are lightly inrolled. The flowers have white, cream or pink petals with central reddish-purple markings and pink stamens. The seeds have a spirally-coiled tail that enables them to drill into the ground as the wind makes the spiral rotate.
 
Native to the Southern Cape of South Africa.

Pelargonium paniculatum  Jacquin 1797
Name: with a branched cluster of flowers = panicle

An infrequently-branching shrub with a thick 3ft trunk patterned with persistent petioles and bearing a head of pinnate succulent leaves. Leaves are deciduous during the Summer. The inflorescence is a panicle of small white flowers with pink markings on the base of the upper pair of petals, a white style and stamens with orange pollen.
 
Native to Southern Namibia.

Pelargonium peltatum  L'Héritier 1789
(Ivy-leaved Pelargonium, Kolsuring)
Name: with pelate leaves.)

A scrambling plant with small, fleshy 5-lobed peltate leaves which may exhibit some zonation. Flower buds are quite hairy. Other parts are generally smooth, although hairy-leaved plants are known from the Eastern Cape.

Native to the coastal tip of the South African Cape. This plant is ancestral to many horticultural varieties.

Pelargonium lateripes  differs from P. peltatum only by having cordate leaves.  

Pelargonium tetragonum  L'Héritier 1789
Name: Greek: tetra = four + gonium = angled, referring to the stem.)

A scrambling plant with branching three or four-angled stems producing non-succulent deciduous leaves at the stem joints. Leaves may have zonal markings and a degree of pubescence. The inflorescence is a cluster of cream to pink flowers the upper petal of which has red markings.
 
Native to the South African Cape. This is one of the few species with succulent stems that is widely available in the horticultural trade although the foliage is not aromatic.

Pelargonium triste  L'Héritier 1789
Name: Latin: triste = sad, dull, referring to flower colour.)

The large pinnate leaves hide a substantial caudex and a spreading, tuberous root from which the seasonal foliage arises. Leaf structure and hairyness of leaves and stems is quite variable.

Native to the Western and South-Western Cape of South Africa. One of the first South African Pelargoniums to be brought to England by John Tradescant in 1632. Originally described by Linnaeus as Geranium triste.

Monsonia (patersonii)
Spiny-stemmed Monsonia, North Escarpment, Nieuwoudtville, RSA. This species has small pink flowers, one of which can just be seen in the photograph. The wicked spines are a deterrent to herbivores in this arid environment.