Pelargonium laxum

Pelargonium laxum is an erect, branched stem succulent that grows to 30 cm in height. The stems are smooth, whitish and may appear twisted and curved.

The inflorescence doubles the plant’s height. The leaves are simple, large with very deeply lobed sections like a fine network, similar to carrot leaves. The margins are white with minute hairs.

The flower is white with a number of fine pinkish red lines on the upper two petals. The stamens are prominent and long with big light brown anthers. The calyx lobes are large, green and longer than the petals. The pedicel is long and finely hairy.

This south African endemic occurs in the Eastern Cape from the coast into the eastern parts of the Karoo as well as in the Western Cape in the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo. 

The habitat is karoid, sometimes renosterveld and the plants sometimes in shale. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; http://www2.arnes.si/~mstrli/otid; http://redlist.sanbi.org).