Pelargonium sidoides

Pelargonium sidoides, sometimes commonly called the black pelargonium and in Afrikaans known as rabassam or kalwerbossie (little calf-bush), is a shrublet growing from a caudex, producing grey-green to blue-grey, wavy leaves. The leaves are aromatic. They are round to heart-shaped, elaborately lobed at the base. Straight pleats radiate from leaf base to margin. The velvety leaves grow on long pale stalks.

This plant survives grass fires in habitat by resprouting from its thick, branched, underground stems. The plant is similar to P. reniforme and P. fragrans, especially in leaf shape and growth habit, but differentiated by its dark, sometimes very dark flowers. P. reniforme is also colloquially known as rabassam.

P. sidoides grows in nature in the Eastern Cape, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and southwestern Gauteng, also in Lesotho.

Its habitat is diverse, including short grassland, Nama Karoo, succulent Karoo and thicket. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (iNaturalist; Wikipedia; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).