Pelargonium trifidum fruit

The fruits of Pelargonium trifidum have the ubiquitous Pelargonium shape: long as the beak of the stork and ready to coil vigorously to assist the base of the elliptic seed in drilling a hole in the ground. When moisture arrives, germination will follow and the tiny emerging root gains access to the earth for yet another miracle of life to happen.

This species is a reseeder that does not resprout after fire. Fire is a fact of life for plants, for which they are adapted to either seed or sprout and live off the nutrients left by the fire. Unfortunately veld fires have become overrepresented in nature since humans were gifted the ability to light fires by Prometheus. And if you don’t like that story, substitute the Titan with some unknown forefather who showed real intelligence very long ago.

Like all great gifts, in the wrong hands fire holds danger that is damaging plant life in many parts of the world these days (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).