Pelargonium crithmifolium thickness

This Pelargonium crithmifolium plant growing in the Hester Malan Succulent Garden of the Goegap Nature Reserve has a thick, reddish flower stalk that loses size as it zigzags up to the flowers. The similarly thick, green leaf stalks curve languidly to their incised blade segments. The stalks are channelled on top, otherwise terete.

The plant’s remarkable and durable thickness resides below, however, at the stem base under the knobbly smoothness of the yellow-green bark. P. crithmifolium is one of the bulkiest of all pelargoniums. In summer, when leaves and flowers disappear, the stout stem flaunts its uncovered bodybuilding achievement. The slow-growing plant may become 40 years old.

The flowers of P. carnosum are smaller and its flower-stalks do not persist on top of the stems after their season (Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org).