Pelargonium elizabethiae and P. geophyllum, two new species in section Hoarea (Geraniaceae) from the Greater Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

Two new species of Pelargonium sect. Hoarea (Sweet) DC. are described from the Greater Cape Floristic Region. Pelargonium elizabethiae M.Strlic, from near Rawsonville and Sir Lowry's Pass Village in Western Cape, resembles P. rapaceum (L.) L'Her. in the abruptly short-clawed lower petals with oblong blades and porrect median anterior petal but differs from that species in its less dissected, markedly discolourous foliage with proportionally shorter lamina, and flowers without a floral 'keel' formed by the lower petals. It also lacks a well-defined fold on the staminal column blocking the hypanthium entrance. Pelargonium geophyllum M.Strlic, from central Namaqualand in Northern Cape, has unique prostrate, divaricately bi- or tripinnate leaves with suborbicular ultimate pinnules. The leaf rachis is closely pressed to the soil surface and sometimes covered by sand, with only the pinnules protruding. The flowers resemble those of P. pinnatum and associated taxa that have all the stamens shorter than the sepals. Both species are fully illustrated in colour. (c) 2024 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.