Pelargonium bowkeri
Of the 230 + specie of Pelargoinum , 185 are concentrate in the winter rainfal surface area of the south esters tip of South Africa . Pelargonium , or , what many of us know and love or loath , as “ geraniums ’ are mostly aboriginal to South Africa , with ony a handful of coinage detect elsewhere in the human beings , ( 8 in Australia , 2 on Madagascar , 2 in the nigh East , for representative ) . This odd but lovely tiny species is a native of Transkei ( East South Africa ) and was name by H. Bowker and documented in Curtis ’ Botanical Magazine in 1864 , where it can be found illustrated in color .
This ‘ Pachycaul ’ type of Pelargonium ( stores H2O in a thickened stem ) , is relatively easy to grow , but perhaps impossible to find sold . I started this from source , pull in in South Africa by the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden , who has air me some seed upon petition . But here is what is different about this wild mintage course of Pelargonium – P. bowkeri is not a wintertime rainfall species , but a summer rain coinage . And , it hails not from the south western part of the mantle , where most of the Pelargonium clan call domicile , but it instead is aboriginal to the summer rain areas of the northeastern Cape .
The ascendent system is complex , composed of tuber - like swollen beginning , which some cultivator may care to raise out of the land , to show off ( something that stock growers really get into ) . I may try this when this four - year old seedling goes dormant again , to propagate it later this summertime , but for now , we are enjoy it ’s rather pretty , fringed petals ( only two other species of Pelargonium have fringed petal ) , this was a bit of a surprise for me , since I simply purchase the germ in a lot , and never research what it really looked like ! surprisal , can be nice ! Pelargonium bowkeri stool a great plus to any assembling of caudex flora ( caudiciforms ) or those who collect mintage Pelargoniums . ( I ’m certain there are plenty of both of you , right ? ) . Ugh … I’m so wierd !
genus Pelargonium mollicomum
plain , P. mollicomum is the wild , specie form of a plant which many of you know and love as the sweet-scented geranium . However , this wild form , has scarcely any scent , for some reason . The scented forms known as Ananas comosus - scented , are also sometimes list as P. mollicomum , but the grey - green lacy foliage of this specie look nothing like a typical ‘ sceneted geranium ’ , That read , you may notice that many scented geraniums have similar blossoms . I happed to like these less - thab - showy shape , and this species is a hunky-dory example of how subtle yet interesting this genus can be .
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