Pelargonium karooicum

“This species has little horticultural appeal, always looking as if it were more than half dead.”
How about that for a recommendation? It comes from “Pelargoniums of Southern Africa” vol. 3. and yes, if you have space for just one more Pelargonium in your collection, this will not be high on your wants list.
But if you are in the field somewhere between January and April, when very little else is flowering, the white, pale yellow or pink flowers sticking out from a shrub, are a welcome sight.
The plants are shrublets of up to 40 cm tall. with thin, slightly woody stems and parsley-like, somewhat succulent leaves. The species is widely distributed from the vicinity of Kleinzee in Namaqualand to Oudtshoorn in the eastern Little Karoo. This is part of the winter rainfall area, with very hot summers and cool, but mainly frost free winters. Without flowers the plants are difficult to find, as they are always growing within other shrubs.

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