''Pelargonium capitatum'' is one of several species (including ''

Pelargonium graveolens ''Pelargonium graveolens'' is a ''Pelargonium'' species native to the Cape Provinces and the Northern Provinces of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Etymology ''Pelargonium'' comes from the Greek πελαργός ''pelargos'' which means st ...

'') known as rose geranium or rose-scented pelargonium in English. The popular names refer to the scent of the essential oils extracted from glandular tissue, not the flowers, which have hardly any scent to speak of. Some of the species are known as kusmalva (meaning, roughly, "coastal geranium") in Afrikaans. It is in the subgenus ''Pelargonium'' along with ''

'', '' Pelargonium tomentosum'' and ''

Pelargonium crispum ''Pelargonium crispum'' (the "crisped-leaf pelargonium") is a ''Pelargonium'' species native to the Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is in the subgenus ''Pelargonium'' along with ''Pelargonium graveolens'' and ''Pelargonium capitatum'' and ...

''.

Etymology

''Pelargonium'' comes from the Greek ''pelargos'', which means

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

. Another name for pelargoniums is storksbills due to the shape of their fruit. The epithet ''capitatum'' refers to the head-shaped flowers leaves.

Description

''Pelargonium capitatum'' is a low

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

up to about 100 cm (39 in) in height and 1.5 m across. The stems are soft and coated in green, glandular hairs. Brushing against a bush releases a copious scent of the essential oil from damaged hairs. The scent varies from faint sweetness to a strong rosy scent. The flowers range from white through various shades of pink to purple. Its preferred habitat is on sand dunes, but it is a fast grower on any reasonable base, including hard clayey soil, so it readily colonises disturbed habitat. ''Pelargonium capitatum'' is one of a number of related plants that have become a major problem in coastal regions of southwest

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, where it invades banksia woodland and coastal heathland. It can be easily propagated from seed or cuttings, and grows best in well-drained sandy soils.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

along the coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, from

Lamberts Bay Lambert's Bay is a small fishing town in the Western Cape province of South Africa situated north of Cape Town. It is part of the Cederberg Municipality. The coast town has been proclaimed 'the Diamond of the West Coast' because of its white bea ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

east to

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. Its habitat is usually beach sand or other well-drained sandy soils. It is a popular and convenient

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

and it also is one of the species of ''Pelargonium'' cultivated as a source of essential oils.

Cultivars and hybrids

There are many cultivars and hybrids of ''Pelargonium capitatum'' as it hybridises readily with other species in the ''Pelargonium'' subgenus. These cultivars and hybrids include: * ''Pelargonium'' 'Atomic Snowflake' - A lemony rose scented variety with creamy variegated edges * ''Pelargonium'' 'Attar of Roses' - Perhaps the most well known of pelargonium cultivars, ''P.'' 'Attar of Roses' has a sweet rose/elderflower scent. * ''Pelargonium'' 'Pink Capitatum' - A common variety of ''P. capitatum''. It has sweet rose/lemon/elderflower scented leaves. * ''Pelargonium'' 'Rober's Lemon Rose' - A lemon scented cultivar of ''P. capitatum''. Possibly a hybrid between ''P. capitatum'' and ''P.'' × ''limoneum''. * ''Pelargonium'' 'Round-Leaf Rose' - A Reddish-Pink flowered variety of ''P. capitatum'' with rose scented leaves. * ''Pelargonium'' × ''asperum'' - A rose scented hybrid between ''P. capitatum'' and '' Pelargonium radens''. This hybrid is the most commonly used pelargonium in the perfume industry. Not to be confused with the sweet scented species ''Pelargonium asperum''.

References

capitatum Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal {{Geraniaceae-stub