Pelargonium fruticosum

Pelargonium fruticosum, commonly in Afrikaans the bossiemalva (little bush geranium), is a single-stemmed shrublet reaching about 1 m in height. The upper stems are light green, older ones becoming red and woody. The leaves are fleshy to leathery, trifoliolate but finely further divided or lobed, with a furrowed appearance of the connecting parts.

The plant is known for a profusion of flowers in spring, although some may occur all the year round. The flower stalks are short, the flowers usually solitary. The calyx tube may be up to 2 cm in length. The flowers are white to dark pink and about 2 cm wide. The upper petal pair has dark pink to purple markings at the petal bases. The three lower ones are unmarked and narrower. 

 The seeds are wind dispersed and drill into the ground using the corkscrew tail attached to it for this purpose.

The species distribution ranges in the Western Cape from Ladismith in the Little Karoo to Willowmore and from the southern Cape coast up to about 100 km inland. 

The plants grow mainly on southern slopes in well-drained soil in succulent Karoo, fynbos and thicket. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.