Pelargonium crithmifolium at the end of its flowering season

This Pelargonium crithmifolium plant of the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden, photographed in August, has nearly done flowering for the season. The succulent perennial shrublet is performing strongly after the winter rains, presenting an abundance of erect fruits pointing upwards like arms above the foliage.

The thick, fleshy stems are branched, somewhat angularly and unevenly shaped. The bark may be smooth or peeling. Foliage and flowering activity appear at stem tips, leaving ample yellow to grey bare stem lower down as the plant grows.

In nature P. crithmifolium attains heights up to 1,2 m, but not in all the arid places where the plant is found. In cultivation they grow even taller (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com).