Pelargoniums: South Africa’s ‘Geranium’ with a story to tell

Known to many simply as “geraniums”, yet the colourful plants found in gardens around the world are, in fact, Pelargoniums, a remarkable group of plants with origins rooted in South Africa.

The story begins at the Cape, where Dutch botanist Paul Hermann recorded Pelargonium cucullatum growing at the foot of Table Mountain in 1672. He was most likely the first botanist to take Pelargoniums abroad, paving the way for their global popularity. By the Victorian era, hybrids of species such as P. peltatum and P. zonale had become garden favourites, and today their descendants continue to brighten streets and gardens across Europe.

So why do we still call them geraniums? The name actually belongs to a different, though closely related, genus in the Geraniaceae family. Interestingly, the names Geranium, Pelargonium and Erodium are all derived from the Greek, for crane, stork and heron – inspired by the distinctive shape of their fruits.

Pelargoniums are far more than ornamental plants. Their lightweight seeds are specially adapted for wind dispersal, with long awns that twist and respond to moisture, allowing the seeds to move across the ground or drill themselves into the soil. Their leaves are also covered in tiny hairs that store aromatic oils, giving rise to scented cultivars with fragrances ranging from lemon and mint to rose and even chocolate mint. One of the best-known species, the Rose Geranium or Pelargonium graveolens, is valued by the perfume industry, while Pelargonium sidoides is used in the pharmaceutical industry to treat respiratory tract infections.

The Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden has its own connection to this iconic South African genus. In the 1970s, Prof. Adri van der Walt established a large Pelargonium research collection at the Garden, with hundreds of species representing South Africa’s diversity. Although few records of this collection remain today, visitors can still discover native Pelargonium species in the bed in front of the garden gallery, along with cultivated varieties next to the arid houses.