Pelargonium ionidiflorum

Pelargonium ionidiflorum is a small shrub growing to 50 cm in height.

Its flowers have five narrow, delicate petals. Flower colour varies from pale pink to dark purplish pink. The upper (posterior) petal pair has dark red markings, the lower (anterior) three do not. The flowers are borne above the ferny, soft foliage. The flowering season is often all year round.

The fruit of this plant (same as many other pelargoniums), has a tail appendage that coils spirally, serving to drill into the ground for "planting" the seed wherever dispersal had deposited it.

The species is distributed in inland parts of the Eastern Cape Karoo, an area roughly bordered by the towns Cradock, Somerset East, Fort Beaufort and Grahamstown. 

The habitat is Albany thicket, grassland and Nama Karoo in karoid, rocky valleys among scrub. Temperature extremes that test several living things in these parts seem comfortable to these plants. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The plant is a garden favourite on account of its floriferous nature, long blooming season and alluring fragrance. It is grown in containers, especially in hanging baskets, also used as a groundcover. The plant responds to periodic cutting back (iNaturalist; www.anniesannuals.com; www.digthedirt.com; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).