Plate 52. 

 PELARGONIUM ceassicaule. 



South- West Africa. 



Geraniaceae. Tribe Pelargonieae. 

 Pelargonium, L'Her. ; Benth. et RooJc.f. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 273. 



Pelargonium crassicaule, Viler. Ger. t. 36 ; Fl. Cap. vol. i. p. 299. 



This species of Pelargonium is one of the many botanical 

 curiosities found in the arid regions of South-West Africa, 

 where the native plants have to contend against very adverse 

 conditions. In the dry season the plant loses its leaves and 

 assumes a knobby appearance due to the thick rather woody 

 stems. The leaves appear after the rains and are more or less 

 crowded at the ends of the branches. 



The species was first discovered by Mr. Ant. Hove in 1786 

 in South- West Africa, and was introduced by him into Kew 

 Gardens the same year. In 1799 a figure was published in 

 the Botanical Magazine (t. 477) prepared from a plant which 

 flowered with Messrs. Grimwood & Co., Kensington, London. 

 Though this figure does not quite agree with our specimen in 

 the markings of the petals, we have no doubt that it repre- 

 sents the plant here illustrated, which can only be considered 

 as a variety. 



Our plant was collected by Dr. I. B. Pole Evans, C.M.G., 

 who states that it is common on rocky outcrops in the Nabib 

 Desert at Luderitzbuch. It has been established and flowered 

 at the Gardens of the Division of Botany, Pretoria. Speci- 

 mens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria 

 (Herb. No. 1452). 



Desceiption : — Stems woody and swollen, with blackish 

 bark. Leaves crowded at the apex of the branches ; petioles 

 4-11 cm. long, semiterete, finely pilose with reflexed hairs ; 

 lamina 2-5 cm. long, 2-4*5 cm. broad, rounded-ovate, slightly 

 3-lobed, rounded above, cuneate at the base and merging into 

 the petiole, with crinkled bluntly dentate margins and 

 prominent veins beneath, finely pilose above and below ; 



