Pelargonium ×fragrans Willd.
nutmeg geranium
A small, compact, bushy, nutmeg-scented subshrub to c. 50 cm tall, finely and densely puberulent. Petioles slender, to c. 4 cm long, greyish. Stipules lanceolate-acuminate. Lamina to c. 3.5 × 4 cm on flowering shoots, broad-ovate, with 3-5 lobes extending to c. 1/2 way, crenate-dentate, very crisped and undulate; base deeply cordate. Umbels on peduncles just exceeding lvs, reddish; pedicels to 7 mm long, < calyx spur, shining and glandular. Umbels few-flowered. Sepals 4-6 mm long, lanceolate, dark reddish, shining and with short glandular hairs; calyx spur c. 8 mm long. Corolla irregular, white; upper 2 petals 8-12 mm long, ± oblong and somewhat asymmetric, with crimson markings around middle; lower 3 petals 9-12 mm long, oblong-obovate, often asymmetric. Style and stigmas crimson. Mericarps not seen.
S.: Port Hills (Christchurch).
Cultivated hybrid 1988
Occasional in weedy communities on sunny well-drained volcanic cliffs.
FL Jan-Dec.
Nutmeg geranium is widely cultivated in N.Z. but is less often found wild than most other commonly grown pelargoniums. Its parents are P. exstipulatum (Cav.) Aiton and P. odoratissimum (L.) Aiton. P. odoratissimum, apple geranium, is also widely cultivated. It is often confused with P. × fragrans, but can be distinguished by the lf being lobed to < 1/2 way to the lamina base, the calyx spur which scarcely exceeds the sepals, and the apple scent.
