Pelargonium inquinans

Pelargonium inquinans, the scarlet geranium, is a succulent-stemmed to softly woody shrub that reaches 2 m in height.

The stalked leaves are round to heart-shaped and slightly lobed with scalloped margins. The blades are soft, velvety and bright green, from 4 cm to 8 cm in diameter. Sticky, glandular hairs are borne on the young stems and leaves. The specific name, inquinans, is derived from the Latin word inquinatus meaning filthy or impure, referring to the brown discoloration that follows touching the leaves.

The inflorescences are pseudo-umbel clusters of five to thirty flowers. The scarlet, bright red or pinkish flowers are five-petalled, 2 cm to 2,5 cm in diameter on corolla tubes of up to 4 cm long. There may be some white in the flower centres. The flowers are laterally symmetrical, the petals in slightly different groups of two (upper) and three (lower) respectively. Stamens and styles are exserted. Bloomtime is all year round. The fruit consists of five capsules terminating in long, hairy, twisted curls.

The species distribution is in the east of the country, from the Baviaanskloof in the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga.

The habitat is fynbos, valley bushveld, thicket and coastal scrub in clay and shale soils. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

Parts of the plant are used as a deodorant and in traditional medicine. The species features in horticulture, cultivated in England since before 1714. It is the significant ancestor of many red garden pelargoniums, resembling another much-used relative, P. zonale that has dark leaf markings (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Manning, 2009; Gledhill, 1981; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://redlist.sanbi.org).