Pelargonium columbinum

Pelargonium columbinum, commonly known as the dove pelargonium and previously scientifically as P. iocastum, is a slender yet spreading annual reaching heights around 40 cm. The flower stems are sometimes reddish, always sparsely hairy.

The stalked leaf is heart-shaped with shallow, roundly toothed or scalloped margins and a pair of large, rounded lobes at the base. The leaf may also be deeply incised into angular or round-tipped lobes, while some plants bear both leaf forms simultaneously, as does the plant in picture. A few sunken, about straight veins emerge from the leaf base, also a midrib from which angled-up lateral veins ascend, some branching higher up nearer the margin. The light green blades are soft textured and hairy.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula northwards to the Bokkeveld Mountains, the eastwards spread less prevalent, as far as George and Uniondale. The photo was taken near Tulbagh.

The habitat is cool, moist places on fynbos-covered mountain slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://www.fernkloof.org.za; http://redlist.sanbi.org).