Pelargonium multicaule subsp. multicaule
Author: Ivan Lätti
Photographer: Louis Jordaan
Pelargonium multicaule subsp. multicaule is a single-stemmed, short-lived herb that reaches heights around 30 cm and sprawls to about 1 m wide.
The stems are reddish and angular, woody only near the base on older plants and some of the stem hairs glandular. The specific and subspecific names, multicaule, is derived from the Latin words caulis meaning stem or stalk and multus meaning many, referring to the many branched stems.
The subspecies distribution ranges across much of the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Free State. The photo was taken near De Rust in the Little Karoo.
The habitat is varied fynbos and renosterveld flats and slopes, the soils loamy. The habitat population of the subspecies is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.
Another subspecies, subsp. subherbaceum grows in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
The plant is not much browsed (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).