TOW Tuberous Pelargonium
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:04:04 PDT)

Hi all,

Yesterday I scanned some slides of some geophytic Pelargoniums we saw on
our first trip to South Africa in 2001 and added them to the wiki. The
first was Pelargonium echinatum. We saw this one while hiking with Rod and
Rachel Saunders in the Gifberg. The flowers were magenta (so a contrast
from the one I am growing from Andrew Wilson) and they were growing through
other vegetation and Rod and Rachel were very excited to see it since it
was an especially striking color. I noticed on Robin Parer's internet site
that she sells a lot of different forms of this species.

I also added a picture of P. incrassatum seen in Namaqualand. My plants
like the ones in David's picture are often stretching and leaning for more
light whereas the one we saw in the wild where it most certainly has much
more light was shorter and straighter.

I also added a picture of very dark flowers of P. lobatum. At least that
was what was written on my slide and I didn't take a picture of the leaves
to confirm so David please let me know if you think I identified this
correctly if you can do that just from the flowers. We saw this one on the
West Coast, if that helps, in a sandy habitat not far from the ocean.

The flowers we saw of P. echinatum looked a lot like Pelargonium magenteum
which we saw later in the Cedarberg as we were driving to the Biedouw
Valley. This plant is a really beautiful one that I am trying to grow. Mine
went dormant after getting a number to grow from seed and it has been hard
to get it going again. I am assuming that since it grows in very dry areas
that it would be dry in summer. Does it lose its leaves in the wild too?

On both of our trips we saw P. triste in many different areas of the Cape,
but I'm not sure we were ever very satisfied with any of the pictures we
took of it. We don't carry a tripod and to get flowers and leaves both in
focus is difficult. Some of the "culinary" members of this group would be
interested to know that the roots can be chapped and used in stews and
soups and mixed with other vegetables like potatoes and onions. Also it is
made into a tea to treat intestinal problems. So you could make something
using Alliums, Oxalis, and Pelargonium.

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I grow a number of the non tuberous South African Pelargoniums in my
Mediterranean garden and they do very well with low amounts of summer
water. If they ever get to look straggly you can take a cutting and very
quickly have a replacement plant.

Mary Sue