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  1. Family: Geraniaceae Juss.

    1. Pelargonium L'Hér. ex Aiton

        2. This genus is accepted, and is native to Africa, Tristan da Cunha, Australasia and Asia-Temperate..

    [FZ]

    Geraniaceae, T. Müller. Flora Zambesiaca 2:1. 1963

    Habit
    Annual or perennial herbs, shrublets or shrubs, sometimes with underground tubers; erect or decumbent, sometimes acaulescent or with subsucculent stems; often viscid and aromatic, variously hairy, often glandular.
    Leaves
    Leaves usually petiolate, stipulate, opposite or alternate, serrate, crenate, dentate, lobed, variously dissected or compound, rarely entire; stipules membranous, sometimes setaceous, rarely forming spines.
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a 2-many-flowered pseudumbel (flowers rarely solitary); bracts present.
    Flowers
    Flowers zygomorphic, 5-merous.
    Calyx
    Sepals imbricate, often with a membranous margin, posterior sepal produced at the base into a spur which is decurrent along the pedicel and adnate to it.
    Corolla
    Petals 5 (rarely 0–4 by abortion), usually unequal, imbricate, unguiculate or sessile.
    Disc
    Disk or extra-staminal glands absent.
    Androecium
    Stamens 10, connate at the base; 2–7 filaments bearing anthers, the remaining ones often vestigial (staminodes); anthers dorsifixed.
    Pistil
    Ovary 5-lobed, 5-locular (rarely 3–4-locular by abortion), rostrate; loculi 2-ovulate; style present, short or long; stigmas 5, usually filiform.
    Fruits
    Fruit a rostrate schizocarp; mericarps rostrate, 1-seeded, tapering from the apex to the base and ending in a point, hirsute; rostrum persistent, helically twisting when ripe, plumose on the inside.
    Seeds
    Seeds ± oblong-obovoid; endosperm absent; embryo curved.
    [FTEA]

    Geraniaceae, J. O. Kokwaro (University College Nairobi). Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

    Habit
    Annual or perennial herbs, shrublets or shrubs, sometimes with underground tubers, erect or decumbent, sometimes acaulescent or with subsucculent stems; stems viscid and aromatic, variously hairy, often glabrous
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite or alternate, usually petiolate, serrate, crenate, dentate, lobed, variously dissected or compound, rarely entire; stipules membranous, sometimes setaceous, rarely forming spines
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a 2-many- flowered simple umbel, flowers rarely solitary
    Flowers
    Flowers zygomorphic, mostly 5-merous, pedicellate, bracteate
    Calyx
    Sepals imbricate, often with a membranous margin; posterior sepals produced at the base into a spur which is decurrent along the pedicel and adnate to it
    Corolla
    Petals 5, rarely 0–4 by abortion, usually unequal, imbricate, unguiculate or sessile
    Stamens
    Stamens 10, connate at the base, with only 2–7 filaments bearing anthers, the remaining ones vestigial (staminodes); anthers dorsifixed
    Nectaries
    Extrastaminal glands absent
    Pistil
    Ovary 5-lobed, 5-locular (occasionally 3–4-locular by abortion), rostrate; each locule usually 2-ovulate, 1 ovule later aborting; style short or long; stigmas 5, generally filiform
    Fruits
    Fruit a rostrate schizocarp; mericarps rostrate, 1-seeded, tapering from the apex to the base and ending in a point, hirsute; rostrum persistent, helically twisting when ripe, plumose on the inside
    Seeds
    Seeds ± oblong-obovoid, exalbuminous; embryo curved.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Chatham Is., Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Iraq, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, New South Wales, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Northern Provinces, Queensland, Saudi Arabia, Socotra, Somalia, South Australia, St.Helena, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tasmania, Tristan da Cunha, Turkey, Uganda, Victoria, Western Australia, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Extinct in:

    Norfolk Is.

    Introduced into:

    Albania, Amsterdam-St.Paul Is, Belgium, Bermuda, California, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Corse, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, Great Britain, Haiti, India, Korea, Madeira, Mexico Southwest, Morocco, Myanmar, Norfolk Is., Puerto Rico, Spain, Trinidad-Tobago, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

    Pelargonium L'Hér. ex Aiton appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    11853.000

    First published in Hort. Kew. 2: 417 (1789)

    Accepted by

    • Le Roux, M.M. (2019). A taxonomic revision of the southern African species of Pelargonium section Peristera (Geraniaceae) Phytotaxa 418: 119-157.

    Literature

    Flora Zambesiaca
    • in Ait., Hort. Kew. 2: 417 (1789).
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Hort. Kew. 2: 417 (1789)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Science Photographs
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/