This small species from the section Hoarea remained little-known until very recently, for good reason: it is remarkably difficult to find. Only a few herbarium specimens exist, and since we’ve had no species description until [1], summarized below, it also has not been possible to reliably identify some of the curious observations of yellow-flowered hoareas.
Pelargonium ladysmithianum grows in large numbers in the hills around De Rust (Fig. 1), with the populations often in the 1000s. Superficially, they resemble small P. moniliforme, but the leaves are much smaller and softer to the touch, with prominent long hairs, which is quite a distinctive character. In my experience, only P. weberi forms similarly small rosettes of entire leaves, however, laminas of this species have long bristles at the edges and short glandular hairs abaxially.
The conservation status of this species is currently listed as “Data Deficient – Taxonomically Problematic” on the SANBI website. Although locally, the populations can be substantial, some of the areas seem to be undergoing rapid degradation, with the hills around De Rust, which I have visited repeatedly over the past few years, becoming illegal dump sites.
Fig. 1: Pelargonium ladysmithianum in habitat.
Plants are often found on S-facing slopes with few other hoareas, P. rapaceum being an exception, while the hilltops abound with P. exstipulatum. Other interesting pelargoniums found in the area include P. laxum ssp. karooicum, which grows beneath shrubs and often has only a single long and thin stem, which is a very peculiar character compared to some other populations, where it forms often densely branched shrubs. On the other hand, dense branching can be a consequence of grazing, which is less prominent if plants grow within protective shrubs. This is an early flowering species, Fig. 2 shows a specimen in full flower on a cold and rainy August day in 2022.
The southern foothills of the Swartberg range remain inaccessible and thus little explored. Observations of unusual taxa from this area are frequent, although some of the areas, such as the Swartberg Pass are tourist hotspots.
Fig. 2: A flowering P. laxum ssp. karooicum.
Fig. 3: The flowers of P. ladysmithianum, Geraniaceae Reference Collection GER500.
In cultivation, P. ladysmithianum requires the same conditions as all other hoareas. It is a winter grower and flowers in the spring. The red, branched peduncles, few-flowered inflorescences and the long, red hypanthia are quite particular and make this species stand out in comparison to other yellow-flowering hoareas (Fig. 3). I also find that the flowers are often forward-leaning, rather than facing upwards.
The tuber structure is complex, with many small side tubers. This makes it difficult to transplant, on the other hand, side tubers easily develop into new plants, so that after repotting, one always ends up with more plants than before.
Excerpt from the description of P. ladysmithianum by E. M. Marais [1].
Pelargonium ladysmithianum Knuth in Repertorium speciorum novarum regni vegetabilis 28: 90 (1930). TYPE – Western Cape Province: Huisrivier Mountains, Marloth 13121 (B†, holo.; PRE, lecto.! Designated here).
A deciduous geophyte 100-250 mm tall when in flower. Tuber: a turnip-shaped, elongated or moniliform root, covered with flaking dark brown periderms, 8-30 mm long and 5-12 mm in diameter, dark brown (black-brown) in colour. Leaves: radical, simple, seldom trifoliolate, green, becoming papery-membranous when dry, petiolate; lamina ovate to broadly ovate, 10-40 x 8-20 mm, apex obtuse, base widely cuneate to truncate, margin entire, seldom lobed, adaxially and abaxially covered with short and long glandular hairs and non-glandular hairs, and abaxially non-glandular hairs especially along main veins, margins ciliate with long patent hairs; petiole 10-55 mm long, very thin, prostrate to patent, green, covered with long and short glandular hairs interspersed with patent non-glandular hairs; stipules 6-15 mm long, subulate, adnate to petiole, apices free, abaxially hirsute. Inflorescence: scape 50-150 mm long, branched, bearing 2-5 pseudo-umbellets with 4-8 flowers each; peduncles 20-100 mm long, 1 mm in diameter, pale reddish green, covered with short glandular hairs, interspersed with very long patent non-glandular hairs; bracts subulate, 3-5 mm long, abaxially hirsute. Pedicel ca. 0.5 mm long. Hypanthium 20-35 mm long, 3-4 times the length of the sepals, reddish green, covered with long glandular hairs and long patent non-glandular hairs. Sepals 5, posterior one erect, others reflexed, 6-11 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, apices acute, reddish green in centre with green membrane-like margins, abaxially covered with glandular hairs and long non-glandular hairs. Petals 5, white or pale yellow, spathulate, patent, flower bell-shaped during anthesis; posterior two curved through 90°, with dark red feather-like markings, 13-19 x 2.5-5 mm, length/width ratio 3-4, apices emarginate; anterior three 10-17 x 2-4.5 mm, apices rounded. Stamens 10, staminal column 1-1.5 mm long, smooth, white; perfect stamens 5, concealed within the floral sheath, posterior one 2-3 mm long, lateral two 3-4 mm long, anterior two 4-5.5mm long, shorter than the sepals, white; anthers 1.5-2mm long, wine-red, pollen orange. Gynoecium: ovary 2.5-3 mm long; style filiform, 0.5-1.5 mm long; stigma branches recurved, 1-2 mm long, dark pink. Fruit: bases of mericarps 5 mm long, with glandular hairs, tails 24 mm long. 2n=20.
P. ladysmithianum is a small geophyte with delicate, simple, prostrate to patent leaves which become papery-membranous when dry, yellow flowers and five fertile stamens concealed in the floral sheath. The spathulate petals and the very short fertile stamens are similar to those of P. pinnatum (L.) L’Hér. This floral structure occurs in about a quarter (ca. 30 species) of the species of section Hoarea. P. ladysmithianum resembles P. flavidum E.M. Marais with regard to the colour and the structure of the flowers as well as the delicate simple prostrate leaves, although on drying, the leaves of P. flavidum do not have the same papery-membranous appearance. The species differ with regard to the indumentum on the leaves, scape, peduncles and hypanthia. P. flavidum has large-headed glandular hairs, interspersed with appressed curly hairs on the hypanthia and P. ladysmithianum has long and short glandular hairs with small glandular heads and very long patent non-glandular hairs. The leaves of P. flavidum are adaxially covered with patent to appressed stiff hairs, sparsely interspersed with glandular hairs and the margins are ciliate with distally appressed coarse hairs and in P. ladysmithianum the leaves are covered with short and long glandular hairs and non-glandular hairs and the margins are ciliate with long patent hairs which are visible with the naked eye.
Knuth [1] described P. ladysmithianum as having pink flowers. The collector’s label on the type specimen does not give any indication of the colour of the flowers, but the type specimen does show a pinkish colour of the posterior petals. However, a closer study of the petals indicates that the pinkish colour could probably be caused by the blotting of the dark red markings during the drying process of the specimen, a reaction often observed on specimens of section Hoarea. Therefore, I would rather describe P. ladysmithianum as having white or pale-yellow flowers with dark red markings on the posterior petals.
Fig. 4: The distribution of P. ladysmithianum.
P. ladysmithianum is known from the Sandberg, south of Worcester, and the Little Karoo, from the Huisrivier Mountains near Ladismith in the west to De Rust in the east, where it was found in large numbers in karroid vegetation, spekboomveld or arid fynbos-renosterveld, growing under bushes on steep lower slopes or occurring in rocky clayey soil (Fig. 4). This is mainly a winter rainfall area with an annual precipitation of 200-400 mm. Only seven collections of this species are known so far. Flowering time is from September to October.
The specific epithet refers to Ladismith, a small town to the west of the Huisrivier Mountains in the Western Cape where the type specimen was collected. Knuth [1], in the original description of this species, erroneously referred to the town Ladymith in Kwazulu-Natal.
By Matija Strlič, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Literature
- Marais E.M (2022), Pelargonium ladysmithianum, Geraniaceae Group News #166 (2022), pp 23-29.
Citation and Copyright
© The Author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
ISSN 2464-014X.
This article was first published in Geraniaceae Group News #166. Cite as: M. Strlič: Pelargonium ladysmithianum in Habitat and Cultivation. Geraniaceae Group News #166 (2022), pp 29-32.