Carpet geranium (Eng.); vroubossie (Afr.)
This low-growing Geranium is one of the real Geraniums and is currently busy producing their beautiful pink/violet blooms. Even though the flowers are quite small, the large quantity of them does turn the grounds of Steenbok into what appears to be a carpet – hence the common name.
It is an attractive sprawling perennial shrublet with finely divided, silvery leaves. The violet or magenta flowers are borne on long slender stalks, followed by characteristically elongated fruit resembling a stork’s bill. It seeds freely, spreading everywhere and scrambling over the grasses in the Reserve.
They produce a fair amount of nectar, so invaluable to many of our butterflies, and in particular to the Brenton Blue butterfly as well as many other insects.
