Pelargonium panduriforme

Pelargonium panduriforme is an erect, much-branched and pubescent (downy-haired) shrub that reaches about 1,2 m in height and spreads to about 50 cm. The single-stemmed plant reseeds after fire, cannot resprout.

The compact inflorescence of this plant may comprise from two to twenty flowers in an umbel-like cluster. The inflorescence grows short-peduncled from an upper-stem leaf axil. The calyx tube is up to 13 mm long, the pedicel short. The flowers are pink in different shades to about white with variable purplish markings on the upper petal pair. The lower three petals are round-tipped and unmarked. The flowers are about 4 cm wide. They appear from spring to summer.

The ripe fruit is dry, separating into five ellipsoid, one-seeded components or carpels, each attached to an awn that corkscrews, sometimes into the ground, "planting" the seed.

The species distribution is mainly in the Eastern Cape, the Baviaanskloof and Kouga Mountain ranges, also slightly further west to around Uniondale in the Western Cape. The picture was taken at the University of Stellenbosch Botanical Garden during March, so no flower should be expected.

The habitat is sandy, montane kloofs of grassy fynbos and transitional shrubveld. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).